Max Pacioretty sits in the Montreal Canadiens’ dressing room when the reporters approach – cameras, microphones, notebooks, recorders. In the past, he might have stayed seated. If he weren’t scoring, he might have brooded. Now, no matter what, he makes sure he stands and speaks.

It’s a little thing. He feels almost silly acknowledging it. But it’s a conscious thing.

“People do notice things like that,” Pacioretty says away from the media scrum. “So at the end of the day, I think it is important for me to give off that image and make sure I handle myself a certain way in front of the cameras.”

View photos Pacioretty is wearing an 'A' and killing penalties as well as leading the Habs in goals and points. (AP) More

In front of the team, too.

“Sometimes it can be a difference of attitude for your teammates,” Pacioretty says, “and you want to give off the right impressions and the right body language and set a good example as a leader.”

Pacioretty, 26, is stepping up this season literally and figuratively.

He’s scoring goals at virtually the same rate he did last season, when he scored a career-high 39. With 26 goals, he’s on pace for 38. He ranks ninth in the NHL and has nine more goals than any other Canadien – critical for a team ranked 23rd offensively at 2.57 goals per game.

He’s producing offense at his best rate ever. With 48 points, he’s on pace for a career-high 70. He has eight more points than any other Canadien. He’s also handling increased defensive and leadership responsibilities, killing penalties, protecting late leads, serving as one of four alternate captains – important for a storied team in a fishbowl with no one wearing the ‘C.’

Things are going so well, on a team with the stellar goaltending of Carey Price, he leads the league with a plus-29 rating.

“There’s always a time in your career, a stage you’ve got to go through,” says coach Michel Therrien. “The case with Patch, it’s about maturity, and it’s a process, and we’re happy with that process.”

It’s tough enough mentally to be a scorer in the NHL. But it can be tougher mentally when you’re a thoughtful guy like Pacioretty and you’re playing in a place like Montreal. You base so much of your self-esteem on whether or not the puck goes in the net. You hear lots of opinions about your performance – in French and English, from Hall of Famers to the fans.

Pacioretty had five goals and 11 points in 17 playoff games last season, when the Habs made the Eastern Conference final and lost to the New York Rangers. Guy Lafleur ripped Pacioretty and Thomas Vanek, who had five goals and 10 points.

“They can stay home if they are not willing to pay the price,” Lafleur told La Presse. “Your team is never going to win with players like them who disappear when they face adversity.”

Vanek had come to Montreal before the trade deadline and would leave as a free agent for the Minnesota Wild, having played only 35 games for the Canadiens in the regular season and playoffs combined. But Pacioretty? He was drafted by the Habs in the first round in 2007. He had spent six seasons in the organization. He had battled through adversity, too, recovering from a concussion and a fractured vertebra after the Boston Bruins’ Zdeno Chara hit him into a stanchion in March 2011.

View photos Pacioretty recognizes the responsibilities that come with playing in a hockey mecca like Montreal. (USA Today) More

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