The Toronto Maple Leafs might have struck gold placing Max Pacioretty on a line with John Tavares and William Nylander.
The 35-year-old forward had two goals in his first six games entering Monday night's 6-4 win over the Winnipeg Jets. Toronto, too, was looking for a spark in their offense after being outscored 15-6 in their last three games.
And a spark they received.
Pacioretty helped get the Maple Leafs on the board fairly quickly on Monday, using his strength in front of the net to smack the puck with one hand to John Tavares, who easily put it in for his third goal of the year.
The veteran forward didn't stop there. Later in the opening frame, Pacioretty picked up the puck — after Winnipeg coughed it up — and found William Nylander in front. The 28-year-old buried it past Connor Hellebuyck for his sixth goal of the year.
It's yet another goal for Pacioretty which highlights his playmaking abilities and smarts with the puck.
"He just really knows his game and how he can impact, and he's just really smart," Tavares said of playing alongside Pacioretty on Monday night.
"I think when me and him play together, we talk a lot and get a really good feel for each other and how we play the game and the experience that we have."
Pacioretty and Nylander would link up again for a goal, but this time it was Morgan Rielly finding the back of the net for Toronto. The veteran forward picked up the loose puck on the boards and found Nylander, who made a slick no-look pass to Rielly and he rifled it by Hellebuyck.
"Patch did an amazing job working really hard, bringing pucks back and making some really nice plays," Nylander said following the win over Winnipeg. "We just meshed together off the hop, so that was nice."
The trio of Pacioretty, Nylander, and Tavares played 11:19 at five-on-five on Monday and had an 87.95 xGF%, which was the best of all four lines on the Maple Leafs, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
All three players can make plays and finish on them. At least one of the three was involved in five of Toronto's six goals against the Jets, proving it could be a group that remains together for a stretch of games.
Following Toronto's win over Winnipeg, Pacioretty admitted that Tavares — whom he's been on a line with before — and Nylander have been easy players to build chemistry with early on in the season.
"They've been good together for a long time, so when you see you're going to go out with those guys, you want to just create some time and space for them," the veteran forward said on Monday night.
"I'm worried about getting pucks back on the forecheck for them and getting to the net. And I just think as a line for the first time playing together, we were reading each other really well, and it starts with just moving your feet. I think it's a big reason why we had a nice night tonight."
The trio combined for nine points on the night. It was an evening when most of Toronto's stars were firing on all cylinders, including Pacioretty, who could find himself in the Maple Leafs' top six more often after this win.
"They had a heck of a game, right? I mean, they got it done offensively," Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said after the game. "I thought that they went up against (Mark) Scheifele's line for most of the game and they were very good defensively."
