In Form Max Pacioretty Demoted and Benched by Craig Berube at Home Opener Against the Penguins

With a 4-2 victory on Saturday night, the Maple Leafs earned their second win in as many games against Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Leafs needed their stars to step up with two goals from William Nylander and one each from Matthew Knies and Mitch Marner, as John Tavares was out with an illness.

But there's also a plot to follow from their victory last night to their upcoming game on Wednesday, involving Max Pacioretty. David Alter reports that the veteran forward saw just three limited shifts and was even taken off the first power play unit, spending the most of the third period on the bench.

Instead, head coach Craig Berube decided to play it safer with a late lead and went with two defensemen. But after a lot of inaction, he continued, he wanted to see some players get going, see better puck movement, and see a spark come from his units.

Even though Pacioretty was the odd man out with the change, that doesn't explain why he didn't get much ice time when the team was playing at full strength. His final TOI for the game was just 10:56, ranking him fourth among forwards with only Ryan Reaves, Steven Lorentz, and David Kampf having less ice time than him.

His foolish offensive zone penalty near the end of the second period may have contributed. The Maple Leafs were playing well against the fatigued Pens squad, and Pacioretty was called for a hooking minor after the Leafs applied strong, continuous offensive zone pressure.

Next week, the Leafs will only play twice: on Wednesday at home against the Los Angeles Kings, and on Saturday at home against the New York Rangers. It will be interesting to see how Pacioretty's relationship with Berube and the other coaches develops over the course of the next three days off, or if his decrease in ice time was an isolated incident.