Max Pacioretty sheathes ‘sword’ after scoring goal (GIF)

The Montreal Canadiens downed the Toronto Maple Leafs by a 4-2 final yesterday, and Max Pacioretty was a big reason why the Habs were able to secure a victory. He opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the first period, assisted on P.K. Subban’s tally toward the end of the first frame and put Montreal up 4-0 in the second period by scoring a short-handed goal.

Toronto appeared to have little interest in stopping Pacioretty as he stormed toward Jonathan Bernier despite being down a man. He finished the chance that he was given, and celebrated by sheeting his hockey stick like it was a sword.

To the surprise of no one, the high and mighty “code protectors” in Toronto’s locker room weren’t very happy about the celebration. Leafs bench boss Randy Carlyle spoke to Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun about the incident:

"That stirred our emotions. From the standpoint of the sashay, the sword and the spin, those kind of things. That’s why we finally got involved and emotionally mad. We were better after that, it’s what stirred the pot."

Toronto forward James Van Riemsdyk added that “You don’t like to see that kind of stuff, but I don’t want to comment.”

(h/t for habseyesontheprize.com for the GIF)