Thursday night at PNC Arena should have capped off with an uproar from the stands that carried a blissful buzz throughout the locker room, but despite a 5-2 thrashing of the Minnesota Wild, the Carolina Hurricanes demeanor was grim. One that was full of concern for one of their own.
With just 19 seconds remaining in the game, Max Pacioretty pulled up, took a step, and immediately reached for his lower leg. It was a non-contact injury, the kind that always signifies something much worse, and it happened on the same leg he had his Achilles surgery on earlier in the year.