Playoff Coverage

As I slowly phase out this blog and move my efforts towards ThePensNation.com and TheHockeyWriters.com, check out those two sites for playoff coverage.  The PensNation will feature all of my thoughts and goal assessments after every game.  Thank you for reading this blog!!  I'm not shutting it down completely yet, but it will likely only be used for random posts moving forward while regular features will be on the other sites.  Thanks again!

- Meesh

Goal Assessment: Game 48 - Pens 8 Hurricanes 3

Link to Game 48 Thoughts:  The PensNation



+/- Assessment

1st Goal For (Malkin): + for

• Fleury – passes the puck all the way to the offensive blue line for Neal
• Neal – skates the puck deep into the zone, then turns and passes back to Malkin
• Morrow – plants himself on the crease to screen Peters
• Malkin – dekes around a defender and slides a puck along the ice that beats Peters

2nd Goal For (Neal): + for

• Kunitz – hustles back to the blue line to keep the puck in the zone and passes it down to Letang on the half boards
• Letang – takes the pass and waits for Neal to slide into an open area of the ice before passing to him
• Neal – skates towards the net and rips a shot past Peters’ glove

1st Goal Against (Westgarth): - for

• Kennedy – misses a pass interception and falls behind the play
• Martin – tries to poke check the puck at the blue line but misses and gets burned by E Staal, then fails to tie up Westgarth on the rebound
• Letang – gets caught out of position and can’t recover to make a play on E Staal or the rebound

3rd Goal For (Jokinen): + for

• Letang – corrals the puck in the defensive zone and moves it up to Iginla in the neutral zone
• Iginla – taps the puck up to Dupuis
• Dupuis – taps the puck over to Jokinen and enters the zone on a 2 on 1 with him
• Jokinen – puts a wrist shot on Peters that he can’t handle and then scores on the rebound

2nd Goal Against (Ruutu): - for

• Despres – has the puck bounce off of his skates directly to Ruutu in front of the net

3rd Goal Against (Westgarth): - for

• Sutter – loses the faceoff cleanly in the defensive zone
• Murray – can’t get out to Westgarth quick enough to disrupt his shot
• Martin – has the puck deflect off of him past Fleury

4th Goal For (Neal): + for

• Iginla – pokes a loose puck behind the net to Neal, eventually passes the puck back and forth with Martin up high
• Martin – moves the puck back and forth with Iginla before returning it to Neal
• Malkin – returns the puck back to Neal for a shot
• Kunitz – skates in front of the crease to distract Peters as Neal is setting up his shot
• Neal – moves the puck up high for Martin, then sends it down low to Malkin when Martin returns it, then takes Malkin’s pass and beats Peters on his stick side

5th Goal For (Neal): + for

• Murray – takes the puck in the defensive zone and passes it to Kunitz at the blue line
• Kunitz – chips the puck off the boards up to Malkin entering the zone on a 2 on 1
• Malkin – carries the puck in and passes it across to Neal
• Neal – one-times the pass in for the goal

6th Goal For (Morrow): + for

• Cooke – backhands the puck to the net and it ends up on Sutter’s stick
• Sutter – passes to Morrow at the backdoor of the crease
• Morrow – initially carried the puck in and passed it to Cooke, taps Sutter’s pass into the net

7th Goal For (Cooke): + for

• Despres – chips the puck in the defensive zone to Martin on the boards
• Martin – moves the puck up to Morrow on the boards
• Morrow – moves the puck up to the offensive zone where Cooke can chase it down
• Cooke – gets to the puck, slides it with one hand through Faulk’s legs, and beats Peters

8th Goal For (Jokinen): + for

• Letang – corrals the puck at the defensive blue line and moves it up to Jokinen
• Iginla – returns a pass to Jokinen
• Dupuis – drives to the net, causing a 2 on 1 situation and the defender to back away from Jokinen
• Jokinen – passes the puck to Iginla entering the zone, tries to backhand it to Dupuis and has it go into the net off of Faulk

Season +/-:  Click here for the Season +/- Spreadsheet

Goal Assessment: Game 47 - Devils 3 Pens 2

Link to Game 47 Thoughts:  The PensNation

+/- Assessment

1st Goal For (Cooke): + for

• Sutter – takes the puck down the left wing and backhands it towards the net
• Morrow – takes out the defenseman on the crease so the puck ricochets off of him and out towards Cooke
• Cooke – shoves a backhander underneath Hedberg that slides into the net

2nd Goal For (Jokinen): + for

• Letang – makes a pass from the defensive blue line to Jokinen streaking up at the offensive blue line
• Jokinen – rifles a wrist shot past Hedberg

1st Goal Against (Zajac): - for

• Kennedy – fails to clear the puck at 3 different opportunities when it’s high on the boards by the blue line
• Niskanen – gets too far away from Zajac and leaves him with too much room with the puck
• Murray – doesn’t clear the crease and let’s Clarkson completely screen Fleury

2nd Goal Against (Clarkson): - for

• Dupuis – in the penalty box for tripping
• Adams – wanders over to Clarkson but doesn’t try to tie up his stick in shooting position

3rd Goal Against (Kovalchuk): - for

• Sutter – trails the wrong player, leaving Despres isolated into a 2 on 1 situation, then deflects the puck into the net

Season +/-:  Click here for the Season +/- Spreadsheet