Graney: Max Pacioretty and his Willis Reed moment

Twenty-seven days later, Max Pacioretty slid into a premier scoring area and fired one those mighty one-time rockets. Sure was different from being a game-time decision.

The script of a Game 7 in sports is just written differently, a winner-take-all moment in a playoff series that almost always produces some level of the unexpected.

It’s a major reason the Golden Knights remain alive in the postseason.

Pacioretty and his Willis Reed moment.

The Knights beat the Minnesota Wild 6-2 on Friday night before 12,156 delirious souls at T-Mobile Arena, taking the best-of-seven series 4-3 and advancing to meet the Colorado Avalanche in the second round.

Pacioretty returned to the lineup in time to score what proved to be the game-winning goal in the season’s biggest game yet. He finished what was even a better pass from Chandler Stephenson at 7:44 of the second period to make it 3-2 Knights.

Cam Talbot, who was terrific in goal for the Wild all series, hadn’t a chance to stop the close-in blast. Storybook stuff is often impossible to defend. The hockey gods need a good yarn to spin every now and then.

I imagined early Friday it might have been William Karlsson being assessed a minor penalty for boarding because, well, there is every chance he had no clue it occurred.

Karlsson actually boarded someone?

“It was important for me not to get too emotional,” Pacioretty said. “It’s definitely a lot more nerve-wracking when you’re sitting up there in the press box and have no control. I’d much rather be on the ice.

“There was some good days and bad days. A lot of people behind the scenes helped me get to where I’m at right now. That was a big reason I was able to play.”

Presence might simply be the state of existing, but it has the power to inspire others. Pacioretty taking the ice undoubtedly brought an extra level of juice for teammates.

There’s no such thing as a small edge in Game 7.

“It adds a different dynamic to them,” Wild forward Zach Parise said. “For him to come right in and contribute and deliver, it was a big addition for them.”

It had been nearly a month of the Knights honoring that bizarre NHL secrecy code when it came to Pacioretty and what exactly kept the team’s leading goal scorer out. Days ran into weeks. You had a better idea where Waldo was than Pacioretty.

He had been sidelined since May 1 but played to a plus-2 in 16:28 of ice time Friday, rejoining Stephenson and Mark Stone on the top line.

“Having (Pacioretty) was a huge lift,” Knights coach Pete DeBoer said. “Just writing his name up on the board in the lineup gave our group a lift. Playing the first six games of the series without him was a hill our group had to climb. It was critical we got him back tonight. It changed everything.”

Pacioretty was 18 years from being born when Reed in 1970 — essentially playing on one leg — led the New York Knicks to their first NBA championship in Game 7 against the Los Angeles Lakers.

So it goes that any time since when an injured athlete returns for such a pivotal game and helps lead a team to victory, those memories are replayed.

Next up: Best team

Now, however, Pacioretty can settle back into a more normal existence of being the most dangerous scoring threat for the Knights. They’ll need a lot of it going forward.

The Knight and Avalanche open their second-round series Sunday in Denver, DeBoer’s team needing every last body against the speed and skill that it is about to encounter.

“The best team in the league with arguably the best player in the league,” Pacioretty said of the Avalanche and star center Nathan MacKinnon. “We knew that to get to where we want to go, we’d have to go through them.”

He will be part of such a challenge now. Back just in time.

On your marks, get set … It should be a great one.

Ed Graney is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing and can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.