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 45 - Pens 3 Sens 1

Link to Game 45 Thoughts:  The PensNation



+/- Assessment

1st Goal For (Jeffrey): + for

• Murray – breaks up a play in the defensive end, skates the puck up through the neutral zone and passes it to Dupuis in stride
• Dupuis – passes to the left to Morrow and draws 2 defensmen towards the net as he crashes the crease
• Morrow – passes the puck to Jeffrey who is trailing in the wake of the area Dupuis opened up
• Jeffrey – one-times a shot past Anderson

2nd Goal For (Iginla): + for

• Vokoun – stopped the puck behind the net and passed it up the boards to Iginla
• Jeffrey – takes the puck into the corner and pushes it along for Morrow to retrieve
• Morrow – chases the puck behind the net and then quickly turns and passes it to Iginla at the goal line
• Iginla – passed the puck to Jeffrey who took it into the zone, then goes to the goal line to accept Morrow’s pass and beat Anderson

1st Goal Against (Wiercioch): - for

• Morrow – in the penalty box for tripping
• Murray – screens Vokoun, causing a late reaction by the goalie

3rd Goal For (Kennedy): + for

• Cooke – dumps the puck into the corner and then wins a puck battle and passes it out to Kennedy on the goal line
• Kennedy – won a puck battle off the faceoff in the defensive zone and passed it to Cooke, then made his way to the goal line to tap Cooke’s pass in past Anderson 

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

Goal Assessment: Game 43 - Pens 6 Canadiens 4

Link to Game 43 Thoughts: The PensNation



+/- Assessment

1st Goal For (Sutter): + for

• Letang – sets up play in defensive zone, passes up to Niskanen
• Niskanen – one-time passes the puck to Sutter skating up the middle
• Sutter – enters the zone and backs Subban off before just beating Budaj with a wrist shot

2nd Goal For (Morrow): + for

• Murray – backchecks and pokes the puck to Despres
• Despres – moves the puck over to Adams to head into the offensive zone
• Adams – skates the puck into the offensive zone and passes it to Dupuis
• Dupuis – draws 3 Canadiens and slides the puck into open space where it ends up on Morrow’s stick
• Morrow – beats Budaj with a quick wrist shot

3rd Goal For (Iginla): + for

• Letang – brings puck into the zone and throws it back to Bennett at the point, eventually passes the puck down to Kunitz on the goal line as well, then drives to the crease to create a passing lane
• Bennett – raced to the point to keep the puck in and passes over to Kennedy
• Kennedy – drew a defensemen over and passed the puck to Letang
• Kunitz – waits and passes the puck across the crease to Iginla
• Iginla – settles down the rolling puck and beats Budaj

4th Goal For (Morrow): + for

• Niskanen – throws a long stretch pass off the boards to Bennett entering the zone
• Bennett – beats his man at the blue line and takes the puck in on a 2 on 1, passes to Morrow
• Morrow – slides the puck in past Price

1st Goal Against (Gionta): - for

• Dupuis – released on coverage on Eller when no other defenseman was in position to take him
• Letang – didn’t get Gionta tied up quickly enough

5th Goal For (Sutter): + for

• Letang – brings the puck out from the defensive zone and passes to Morrow
• Morrow – skates down the left wing and fires a wrist shot that Price can’t handle
• Sutter – skates to the crease and taps in the rebound

2nd Goal Against (Galchenyuk): - for

• Sutter – loses his guy at the offensive blue line when he tries to stop the puck and misses
• Despres – shows no awareness that there is an odd-man against him and misses on a poke check to throw him completely out of position

3rd Goal Against (Dumont): - for

• Glass – loses Desharnais in the corner and misses the puck
• Kennedy – lets Dumont skate right past him without any thought to following him
• Cooke – lazily glides to Dumont and thus doesn’t get there in time
• Orpik – is slow to leave the crease to try and block Dumont’s shot, ends up having the puck go off of his stick and in

6th Goal For (Murray): + for

• Iginla – wins faceoff back to Murray
• Murray – shoots the puck and has it deflect off of Plekanec and in past Price

4th Goal Against (Markov): - for

• Kennedy – drifts off of Markov and misses a pass interception attempt

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

Goal Assessment: Game 42 - Pens 3 Panthers 1

Link to Game 42 Thoughts:  The PensNation



+/- Assessment

1st Goal For (Letang): + for

• Dupuis – chases down a loose puck and taps it over to Morrow behind the net, clears Letang’s shooting lane
• Morrow – feeds the puck back over to Bennett who rotated into the corner, goes to screen Markstrom
• Bennett – passes the puck to Letang at the point
• Letang – fires a wrist shot that beats Markstrom

2nd Goal For (Morrow): + for

• Letang – dumps the puck into the zone
• Vitale – chases the dump-in and keeps the puck in the zone, then clears out the crease area for Morrow
• Bennett – follows Vitale and picks up the puck, takes it around the net, and feeds Morrow in front
• Morrow – banks the puck in off of Markstrom

1st Goal Against (Upshall): - for

• Murray – fails to clear the puck when he gets a chance in the corner
• Sutter – fans on the puck when it goes back to the corner          
• Kennedy – drifted past all 5 Panthers waiting for the clear attempt, wasn’t near anyone as Upshall sneaks in with no one paying attention
• Cooke – follows Skille towards the failed clear but then never goes back to his position (where he would have seen Upshall coming in)
• Niskanen – hits Upshall after the initial shot but gives him the inside lane to the net instead of protecting the net

3rd Goal For (Morrow): + for

• Dupuis – picks off a pass in the neutral zone after Florida pulls their goalie, passes it up to Morrow
• Morrow – skates into the zone and scores on an empty net

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

Goal Assessment: Game 40 - Pens 5 Hurricanes 3

Link to Game 40 Thoughts: The PensNation



+/- Assessment

1st Goal Against (Corvo): - for

• Adams – in the box for slashing
• Kunitz – in the box for tripping
• Sutter – clean defensive zone faceoff loss

1st Goal For (Bortuzzo): + for

• Kunitz – chips the puck from the defensive zone to the offensive zone
• Adams – forechecks and keeps the puck in the offensive zone
• Dupuis – follows up the forecheck by Adams to pick up the puck and then pass it across the crease to Bortuzzo
• Bortuzzo – gave the puck to Kunitz originally in the defensive zone and streaks up the ice to tap in the pass from Dupuis

2nd Goal For (Morrow): + for

• Jokinen – skates from deep in the offensive zone back to the blue line to grab the puck before 4 Hurricanes’ players around him do, then makes a perfect backhand pass to Morrow
• Morrow – moves the puck to the left around Faulk and fires a perfect wrist shot to the top corner of the net

2nd Goal Against (Sanguinetti): - for

• Bortuzzo – ices the puck with all of the forwards in front of him
• Adams – loses the defensive zone faceoff cleanly

3rd Goal Against (Nash): - for

• Engelland – gets beat to the puck off of a clean faceoff win
• Sutter – loses LaRose behind the net
• Bortuzzo – fans on the puck in the slot and doesn’t get a stick on Nash either

3rd Goal For (Bennett): + for

• Engelland – makes the stretch pass up to Bennett
• Adams – follows up Bennett when he can’t take the pass from Engelland, keeps the puck in the zone, and then eventually feeds Bennett
• Glass – goes in with Bennett on a 2 on 1, drawing McBain away from the puck
• Bennett – goes in for a backhand on Peters and has the puck bank off of McBain and in

4th Goal For (Malkin): + for

• Kunitz – keeps Gleason honest when entering the zone so the Pens have a 3 on 2 which they isolate into a 2 on 1 as Gleason sticks to Kunitz
• Iginla – intercepts the puck at the neutral zone, feeds it to Malkin entering the zone, gets the puck on net when Malkin returns the pass
• Malkin – feeds the puck back to Iginla, scores on the rebound of Iginla’s shot

5th Goal For (Dupuis): + for

• Dupuis – intercepts the puck in the neutral zone and puts it into an empty net

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

Goal Assessment: Game 38 - Rangers 6 Pens 1

Link to Game 38 Thoughts:  The PensNation



+/- Assessment

1st Goal Against (Boyle): - for

• Kunitz – puts the team on the PK with a slashing penalty
• Murray – fails to clear the puck at his feet
• Engelland – fails to clear the puck at his feet
• Dupuis – gets a piece of Richards’ shot but it glances off of him and bounces past Fleury

2nd Goal Against (McDonagh): - for

• Glass – failed chip to clear the puck on the boards, then doesn’t attack the puck carrier later
• Morrow – failed chip to clear the puck on the opposite side boards
• Murray – gets drawn completely out of position which causes confusion with Niskanen
• Niskanen – backs away from the net and McDonagh instead of trying to block the shot or get in his way

3rd Goal Against (Clowe): - for

• Orpik – loses the puck to Stepan’s forecheck without any attempt to clear it or pass it away

4th Goal Against (Brassard): - for

• Malkin – in the penalty box for slashing

1st Goal For (Dupuis): + for

• Despres – feeds the puck up to Dupuis in the neutral zone
• Morrow – runs interference to let the puck get to Bortuzzo at the point
• Bortuzzo – takes a long shot from the point that creates a rebound
• Dupuis – dumps the puck in around the boards, eventually puts the rebound past Lundqvist

5th Goal Against (Clowe): - for

• Cooke – in the penalty box for tripping
• Sutter – doesn’t rotate down quickly enough to get a strong stick on Clowe

6th Goal Against (Moore): - for

• Vitale – loses a puck battle on the boards
• Cooke – doesn’t get out to his man at the point and deflects the puck on its way to Fleury
• (also a soft goal for Fleury to let up)

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

Goal Assessment: Game 35 - Pens 4 Jets 0

Link to Game 35 Thoughts:  The PensNation

Quick recap for those new to my blog: Throughout this season, I have dissected every goal (for and against) to determine who contributed to goals for and who is at fault for goals against.  I have provided a game by game recap and have kept a spreadsheet with the season totals.  This all started because I hate plus/minus as a stat.  It's lazy and doesn't actually tell you what is going on for any shift and which players actually did something right or wrong.

I have included powerplay goals for and against because I see no reason players shouldn't get credit (or fault) if they had a hand in a scoring play.  Additionally, players in the penalty box during a powerplay goal against automatically get a minus for putting their team down a man.

The NHL +/- stat is next to my +/- stat for comparison's sake.  With the recent additions the Penguins have made, I am going to keep track of their NHL and my +/- rating only with the Penguins.

In every post on this site, I will give the full explanations for my goal assessments.  Additionally, you can find my post-game thoughts and analysis at The PensNation.  Thanks for reading!

+/- Assessment

1st Goal For (Kunitz): + for

• Malkin – retrieves puck after it hits the referee in the corner, passes behind the net to Crosby
• Orpik – takes a pass at the point and sends it across to Martin
• Martin – takes a shot that goes wide and bounces to Crosby behind the net
• Crosby – passes the puck to Orpik from Malkin, then takes Martin’s missed shot and makes a no look pass back to Kunitz
• Kunitz – one-times Crosby’s pass past Montoya

2nd Goal For (Malkin): + for

• Murray – keeps the puck in the zone after it’s blocked by the Jets, passes it to Niskanen
• Niskanen – sends the puck down low to Neal
• Neal – passes across the crease to Malkin
• Morrow – gets in the way of 2 defensemen as Neal’s pass glides by
• Malkin – has the puck go off his skate, off Montoya, off his skate, and in for a goal

3rd Goal For (Dupuis): + for

• Crosby – passes the puck up to Kunitz off the boards as they leave the defensive zone
• Kunitz – passes across to Dupuis on a 2 on 1
• Dupuis – initially retrieved the puck and sent it to Crosby in the defensive zone, then one-times Kunitz’s pass to beat Montoya

4th Goal For (Dupuis): + for

• Glass – joins Dupuis on a 2 on 1, pulling Enstrom away from Dupuis
• Dupuis – fires a shot short-side to beat Montoya

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