Maple Leafs Winger Max Pacioretty Rocks Stars Forward Mavrik Bourque with Highlight Reel Hit

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in Dallas on Wednesday night to take on the Stars in a rare meeting between the two clubs, who play in opposing conferences.

Max Pacioretty has been gradually ramping up the physical play as the season has worn on, landing a series of devastating hits on the opposition as he continues to transition from dynamic scorer to versatile support player.

Recently, Pacioretty lined up and absolutely trucked New Jersey Devils star. Now, his latest victim is Stars forward Mavrik Bourque, who was absolutely pasted to the boards by the veteran Pacioretty in the first period of tonight's game.

Not only did Pacioretty turn some heads and drop some jaws with the ferocious hit on Bourque, he also ended up drawing a penalty after Stars pivot Roope Hintz hit him with a cross-check in retaliation for the hit on Bourque.

The Leafs didn't score on the power play, but if Pacioretty continues to play with this sort of edge to his game, he'll be drawing a whole lot more penalties this season and forcing guys to keep their heads up when he's out on the ice.

Pacioretty signed a 1-year deal with the Leafs this fall after a successful PTO in Toronto during training camp. Right now, he's certainly earning his keep and then some.