Giordano honours late father after scoring on Thursday night

Toronto Maple Leafs veteran defenceman Mark Giordano returned to the team's lineup on Thursday night and made an immediate impact and honoured his father in the process.

Just over ten minutes into the opening frame, Giordano fired a shot home from the top of the circle for his second on the season, giving the Maple Leafs the 1-0 lead.

After scoring the goal, Giordano pointed to the sky, honouring his late father Paul, who passed away in the middle of February. Thursday also marked Giordano's third game in the Maple Leafs' lineup since the passing of his father.

Giordano, 40, was activated off of long-term injured reserve on Thursday prior to the game after missing nearly a month of action with an upper-body injury. He sustained the injury to his head during a game in late-February against the Arizona Coyotes.

So far this season, the Toronto native has put up eight points (two goals, six assists), 35 penalty minutes and is a plus-seven in 39 games for the Maple Leafs.

With the Stanley Cup Playoffs set to begin in less than a month, it'll be interesting to see how Mark Giordano will be utilized by Sheldon Keefe. With current injuries to Morgan Rielly, Timothy Liljegren and Joel Edmundson, there's a pretty good chance that Giordano could be in the lineup for Game 1 of their first round series next month.