Pacioretty blames self for Canadiens' slow start: 'I'm the worst one on the ice'

Montreal Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty prefers to lead by example, but he hasn't done a great job of that to begin the season.

The club has an Eastern Conference-worst 1-5-1 record, and Pacioretty has shouldered much of the blame, admitting his play has made it hard to rally teammates.

"That is the challenge … how am I going to go tell my teammates that we got to be better when I’m the worst one on the ice," said Pacioretty, according to Stu Cowan of the Montreal Gazette. "That's what keeps you up at night … that's what keeps me up at night. Trust me, if you guys think I don’t care you got it all wrong. If anything, I think too much and I care too much."

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Since the 2013-14 season, only Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, and Joe Pavelski have more goals than Pacioretty's 142. He's well aware that goal-scoring is his greatest asset - even though he has just one goal through seven games - and is why he suggests the best way to get his team back on track is to start scoring goals.

"I'm worried about my game personally, but numbers-wise I know I help the team by scoring goals and by producing offence and I know it’s not there and I take full responsibility for that every time that that’s the case," Paciorety said. "But no one's going to get me or the team out of this other than myself and ourselves."

Luckily for the Canadiens, time is on their side. With 75 games remaining, more than 91 percent of the regular season is still to be played, but the fact remains, the deeper the hole, the higher they'll need to climb.