As The Athletic’s Jesse Granger reports, the Vegas Golden Knights have activated forward Max Pacioretty off of injured-reserve ahead of tonight’s game against the Arizona Coyotes. No corresponding move, if any, has been announced yet. Pacioretty last played on March 11th.
Adding Pacioretty back into the lineup will be a huge boost for a Vegas team that has been struggling in the second half of the season, and is now fighting for a spot in the playoffs. Despite the struggles, Vegas has been hot as of late, winning five of their last six games. Currently, they sit two points back of the Dallas Stars and four points back of the Nashville Predators for the second and first Wild Card spots, respectively, in the Western Conference with ten games remaining, though Dallas and Nashville each have a game in-hand on Vegas.
Pacioretty has struggled with injuries this season, playing in just 29 games. However, when he has played, the veteran goal scorer has dominated, tallying 15 goals and 14 assists in those 29 games. With Vegas still needing nearly $4.5MM in cap space to activate Mark Stone off of LTIR, having Pacioretty back in the lineup could provide the offensive punch the team needs to make a final push down the stretch and jump Dallas and Nashville in the standings.