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Social media can be a cruel place when you’re captain of the Canadiens and your team gets eliminated in the playoffs.

It’s even worse when it happens in the first round and the captain doesn’t score any goals in six games against the New York Rangers.

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Max Pacioretty is being called “Patio-ready” — and worse — on social media, where there’s also a “Missing” sign with his photo on it and the words “Responds to ‘Patches’ ” and “Please return to Claude Julien or Marc Bergevin.”

The mainstream media can also be tough, but the truth sometimes hurts. Pacioretty failed to score a goal against the Rangers and is a big reason why the Canadiens were eliminated — but definitely not the only one. He’s also one of the biggest reasons they made the playoffs, leading the team in goals (35) and points (67) during the regular season.

But when you’re captain of the Canadiens, you are a very large target when things go wrong.