Canadiens' Pacioretty bemoans 'wasted effort' after elimination

It wasn't supposed to end like this for the Montreal Canadiens.

After finishing atop the Atlantic Division standings, the Canadiens find themselves bounced from the Stanley Cup Playoffs after six first-round games against the New York Rangers, leaving captain Max Pacioretty with an empty feeling.

"We had a great opportunity to do something this year," he said, according to Frank Seravalli of TSN. "It feels like a wasted effort."

For his part, Pacioretty finished the series with zero goals on a team-high 28 shots, and knows he'll have to answer questions about his inability to score over what will be a longer-than-expected offseason.

Pacioretty "I know where everyone's going with this. My job is to bury those chances. I take full responsibility for not scoring in series."

- Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) April 23, 2017

Pacioretty added he'll discuss his play in the series more following the team's exit meeting, per Seravalli.

It was a tightly contested series, with no game decided by more than two goals. As to why and what needs to change, Pacioretty passed the buck upstairs.

Pacioretty said "constantly answering questions about why we're losing by 1 goal." When asked if that signals help needed: "I'm not the GM."

- Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) April 23, 2017

Pacioretty exits this season with 10 goals in 38 career playoff games with the Canadiens.

Copyright (C) 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.