Paquette brings a gritty, hard-nosed style to the Lightning.
That reputation earned the forward from Gaspe, Quebec, his first call-up to Tampa Bay at the end of the 2013-14 season, after he scored 20 goals and amassed 153 penalty minutes in 70 games with Syracuse of the American Hockey League.
Paquette brings a gritty, hard-nosed style to the Lightning.
That reputation earned the forward from Gaspe, Quebec, his first call-up to Tampa Bay at the end of the 2013-14 season, after he scored 20 goals and amassed 153 penalty minutes in 70 games with Syracuse of the American Hockey League.
He had an assist in his two-game stint to close the that NHL season, and the 6-foot-1, 199-pound Paquette made enough of an impression that the Lightning put him in the lineup to open the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Montreal Canadiens (he had two assists in four playoff games).
By his second season, Paquette showed he was ready for a regular spot in the Lightning lineup, appearing in 64 games. He was put into the penalty-kill rotation but showed he was capable of providing offense, too, as he scored his first two career goals in his fifth game of the season, against the Calgary Flames Nov. 6.
On Jan. 29, 2015, he had his first career hat trick in a victory against the Detroit Red Wings. He finished the regular season with 12 goals, 19 points and 51 penalty minutes.
Paquette then made an impact during Tampa Bay's run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2015, appearing in 24 of 26 games and scoring the game-winning goal in Game 3 of the Final against the Chicago Blackhawks.
