Goal Assessment: Game 46 - Sabres 4 Pens 2

Link to Game 46 Thoughts: The PensNation



+/- Assessment

1st Goal Against (Vanek): - for

• Sutter – loses Hodgson on a spin move on the boards behind the net
• Murray – leaves his assignment of Vanek in the slot to cover Stafford, who is already covered by Niskanen

1st Goal For (Kunitz): + for

• Orpik – clears the puck up to the defensive blue line to Cooke
• Cooke – moves the puck up to center to Sutter
• Sutter – skates through center and moves the puck to Kunitz on the left wing
• Kunitz – fires a wrist shot that goes off of Miller’s glove and in

2nd Goal Against (Hecht): - for

• Jokinen – leaves his lane to help Bennett with a puck battle on the boards, loses the battle and isn’t there to cover Hecht
• Eaton – leaves his position to help Bennett with the same puck battle, doesn’t get there in time and isn’t in place for Hecht’s shot
• Murray – doesn’t react quickly enough to Hecht rotating back to the slot for the loose puck and can’t get there in time

2nd Goal For (Iginla): + for

• Morrow – corrals the puck behind the net and moves it to Malkin by the right side boards, then goes to screen Miller
• Malkin – circles with the puck and passes it across to Iginla at the left point
• Letang – feeds the puck back to Iginla
• Iginla – passes the puck to Letang and sets up in a one-timer position, then one-times Letang’s return pass into the net

3rd Goal Against (Ott): - for

• Jeffrey – instead of dumping the puck in, turns the puck over at the offensive blue line while the Pens are changing
• Eaton – jumps up to bat the puck down, but then gets out of position/flat-footed and misses on a poke check
• Cooke – doesn’t follow his man (Ott) into the zone, forcing Kunitz to try to cover him and he can’t get there in time

4th Goal Against (Vanek): - for

• Letang – turns the puck over with an empty net behind him

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

Goal Assessment: Game 44 - Pens 3 Bruins 2

Link to Game 44 Thoughts:  The PensNation



+/- Assessment

1st Goal Against (Marchand): - for

• Cooke – in the penalty box for a slashing penalty
• Morrow – skates away from Marchand’s lane, giving him a free entry into the zone and down the boards
• Letang – goes for the poke check on Marchand and gets turned inside out as Marchand skates around him

1st Goal For (Jokinen): + for

• Adams – chases the puck on a forecheck and ties it up until help arrives, eventually ties up the Bruins defense on the crease
• Glass – originally dumped the puck in and chases after it to help out Adams, passes the puck to Niskanen at the point
• Niskanen – fires a shot from the point that lands in front of the crease through bodies
• Jokinen – skates through the open area vacated by Adams on the crease and puts the rebound past Rask

2nd Goal For (Iginla): + for

• Bennett – retrieves the puck in the corner and passes back to Iginla at the point, gives Iginla an outlet and passes back to him again
• Jokinen – retrieves an Iginla pass in the high slot and gives it back to Iginla
• Kunitz – screens Rask on top of the crease
• Iginla – quarterbacks the whole play from the point and finally fires a shot that beats Rask

3rd Goal For (Letang): + for

• Kunitz – goes into the corner to win a puck battle
• Jokinen – goes into the corner to help Kunitz and moves the puck back to Letang at the point
• Letang – fakes a look at a pass and then fires a wrist shot past Rask

2nd Goal Against (Seguin): - for

• Iginla – commits a giveaway in the neutral zone
• Letang – goes down to his knees to poke check Seguin at the blue line and gets beat

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

Goal Assessment: Game 39 - Pens 2 Rangers 1 (SO)

Link to Game 39 Postgame Thoughts: The PensNation



+/- Assessment

1st Goal For (Jokinen): + for

• Dupuis – throws the puck behind the net for Kunitz
• Kunitz – settles the puck down and feeds Jokinen at the left circle
• Jokinen – beats Lundqvist high, glove side

1st Goal Against (Nash): - for

• Dupuis – just getting out of the box for his unsportsmanlike conduct penalty **I realize the penalty was iffy at best, but he’s still the reason it’s 5 on 4**
• Sutter – loses the faceoff cleanly in the defensive zone

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

Goal Assessment: Game 34 - Pens 1 Habs 0

Link for Game 34 Thoughts: The PensNation
Also - check out the Morrow/Murray trade thoughts here.



Easiest goal assessment ever!

+/- Assessment

1st Goal For (Crosby): + for

• Orpik – shovels a rebound from the crease area to the boards in the defensive zone
• Kunitz – retrieves the puck from the boards and makes a long cross-ice pass to Crosby entering the offensive zone
• Crosby – snipes a shot past Price’s blocker

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

Goal Assessment: Game 32 - Pens 4 Isles 2

Link for Game 32 Thoughts:  The PensNation

+/- Assessment

1st Goal Against (Streit): - for

• Jeffrey – clean faceoff loss
• (everyone goes where they are supposed to go, Vokoun looks off of his angle a bit)

1st Goal For (Vitale): + for

• Adams – takeaway at the offensive blue line
• Glass – makes it a 2 on 1 with Vitale and pulls Hamonic a little bit out of position away from Vitale
• Vitale – snipes the corner on Nabokov

2nd Goal Against (Bailey): - for

• Dupuis – failed clear with the puck sitting in front of him
• Crosby – failed clear, then doesn’t skate out to Hamonic at the point OR shadow Bailey (lack of attention to what Kunitz is doing)
• Kunitz – gets caught wandering in the zone, too far away from Hamonic at the point OR Bailey skating to the crease (lack of attention to what Crosby is doing)

2nd Goal For (Kunitz): + for

• Crosby – wins puck battle in the defensive zone to Dupuis, eventually sets up Kunitz
• Dupuis – takes puck from defensive zone and passes it along to Crosby, then drives to the net causing a 3 player screen on Nabokov
• Kunitz – beats Nabokov 5 hole as the screen clears away

3rd Goal For (Sutter): + for

• Orpik – retrieves puck in the defensive zone and clears it out to Neal
• Neal – passes the puck from the neutral zone up to Cooke heading into the offensive zone
• Cooke – patiently waits for Carkner to go down and end up out of position before passing the puck across the crease to Sutter
• Sutter – beats Nabokov from point blank

4th Goal For (Dupuis): + for

• (Vokoun – clears the puck to the blue line)
• Crosby – knocks the puck to the offensive blue line where Dupuis picks it up
• Dupuis – smacks the puck into an empty net

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

Goal Assessment - Game 31: Pens 2 Caps 1

Link for Game 31 Thoughts:  The PensNation

+/- Assessment

1st Goal Against (Ovechkin): - for

• Kunitz – in the box for tripping
• No one else – just a bad bounce off of Niskanen’s block

1st Goal For (Martin): + for

• Crosby – passes a loose puck to Martin
• Martin – beats Holtby on a one-timer
• (Not giving credit to Bennett even though he received an assist. He fanned on a shot attempt and Carlson poked the puck away directly to Crosby)

2nd Goal For (Niskanen): + for

• Crosby – passes the puck left to Cooke and drives into the zone to take away defenders
• Cooke – passes to Niskanen as the trailer entering the zone on a 3 on 2
• Niskanen – made the initial pass interception in the defensive zone and passed it to Crosby, then rifles a shot past Holtby after Cooke’s pass

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

Goal Assessment: Game 30 - Pens 2 Bruins 1

Link for Game 30 Thoughts:  The PensNation

+/- Assessment

1st Goal For (Crosby): + for

• Dupuis – beats Chara to the puck behind the net and spins away from him, passing to Kunitz
• Kunitz – makes a quick pass across the slot to Crosby
• Crosby – shoots the puck past Rask, who was sprawling out of position

1st Goal Against (Seguin): - for

• Eaton – extended sequence begins when Eaton clears it up the middle directly to Boston so everyone starts scrambling in coverage, eventually covers the same guy as Sutter leaving Seguin by himself
• Cooke – not playing anywhere near the points for defensive coverage
• Kennedy – not playing anywhere near the points for defensive coverage
• Sutter – slides towards Eaton’s position where neither one of them adjusts

2nd Goal For (Vitale): + for

• Orpik – makes the lead pass from the defensive zone up to Vitale
• Adams – takes a shot that Rask can’t handle with his glove that leads to a rebound
• Vitale – drops puck off for Adams, skates in for the rebound and puts it over Rask

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

Goal Assessment: Game 28 - Pens 3 Leafs 1

Link for Game 28 Thoughts:  The PensNation

+/- Assessment

1st Goal Against (Bozak): - for

• Crosby – bad line change leads to an uncovered defenseman entering the Penguins zone
• Dupuis – bad line change leads to an uncovered defenseman entering the Penguins zone
• Kunitz – releases coverage on Bozak when he’s unsure of what to do with the open man

1st Goal For (Dupuis): + for

• Martin – moves the neutral zone faceoff win over to Niskanen
• Niskanen – slaps the puck in around the boards for Kunitz forechecking on the other side
• Kunitz – wins the forechecking battle and feeds the puck to Sid at the faceoff circle
• Crosby – makes a ridiculous backhanded spin pass to Dupuis
• Dupuis – turns the pass to his forehand and scores

2nd Goal For (Dupuis): + for

• Crosby – gets a clutch stick deflection on a Leafs cross-crease pass in front of Fleury in the D zone (puck deflects to the glass and rolls up the boards)
• Kunitz – retrieves the puck off the boards in the D zone and takes it into the O zone, pulls up and feeds the puck to Dupuis in the high slot
• Dupuis – takes a quick snap shot that beats Scrivens

3rd Goal For (Adams): + for 

• Adams – blocks a shot, gathers the puck, and shoots it into an empty net from his own zone

Get the full season +/- here:  Season +/- Spreadsheet

Game 27 - Penguins 3 Bruins 2: Goal Assessment

Link for Game 27 Thoughts:  The PensNation

+/- Assessment

1st Goal Against (Chara): - for

• Crosby – too many men penalty: he was the 6th man and easily could have / should have seen Kunitz go on a couple steps before him
• Martin – fails to retrieve the puck in the corner and then shifts a little high, leaving 2 guys on the crease for Orpik
• Orpik – doesn’t even attempt to keep Bergeron from screening Fleury

2nd Goal Against (Seguin): - for

• Cooke – has Bergeron on the crease and releases on his coverage as Bergeron skates behind the net to open himself up for a pass
• Letang – has Seguin on the crease and releases on his coverage as Seguin goes to provide an outlet for Marchand, then leaves the crease area to go after Bergeron once he receives the pass behind the net
• Kennedy – is left with coverage on Seguin due to above abandonments by Cooke and Letang, but doesn’t follow Seguin closely or try to tie up his stick

1st Goal For (Kunitz): + for

• Engelland – gives Letang a passing option and feeds the puck back to him
• Letang – gives Kunitz a perfect pass to one-time
• Dupuis – skates the opposite direction of Kunitz to pull Chara completely out of position with him
• Kunitz – does the forechecking job to retrieve the puck and pass it back to Letang on the point, then gets into shooting position on the other side of the ice and scores on a one-timer

2nd Goal For (Sutter): + for

• Bennett – carries the puck into the offensive zone and passes it to the left to Neal
• Neal – pulls the puck to the right to move a defender towards him and then passes it to the left to Sutter with an open shooting lane
• Sutter – made the initial pass off the boards in the neutral zone to spring Bennett and then took Neal’s pass and shot it past Khudobin

3rd Goal For (Sutter): + for

• Crosby – forces the defender to drop to the ground to cover a pass on the 2 on 1
• Sutter – intercepts the puck inside the offensive zone and rips it past Khudobin

Get the full season +/- here:  Season +/- Spreadsheet

Game 26 - Penguins 6 Islanders 1: Goal Assessment

Get the full thoughts here:  The PensNation - Game 26

+/- Assessment

1st Goal For (Dupuis): + for

• Kunitz – gives the puck away but takes it back at the blue line and gets it to Sid, then eventually passes down to Dupuis
• Crosby – beats Hamonic to the puck to help Kunitz and gives the puck back to him
• Dupuis – takes a sharp angle slapshot that goes off the post, off Nabokov, and in

2nd Goal For (Kunitz): + for

• Letang – fantastic keep at the blue line by batting the puck down in midair, eventually puts the puck in the corner for Neal
• Bennett – rotates down to give Letang an outlet and then gives the puck to Crosby and gets open for Crosby before giving it back to Letang
• Crosby – rotates to give Bennett a passing option, pulls a defender away from Neal, then gives Neal a passing option and feeds it right back to him
• Neal – gives Kunitz a perfect pass on the crease
• Kunitz – taps in Neal’s pass for a PP goal

3rd Goal For (Kunitz): + for

• Martin – break out pass to Crosby at the blue line
• Crosby – passes it to Kunitz in the middle
• Neal – passes the puck to Kunitz on the crease
• Kunitz – taps the puck to Neal and then receives a pass from Neal and shoots it past Nabokov

1st Goal Against (Boyes): - for

• Despres – trips over the puck / his own feet / the blue line, which leads to a 2 on 1 that Boyes shoots in

4th Goal For (Kunitz): + for

• Dupuis – throws the puck into the offensive zone for Crosby to retrieve
• Crosby – beats out Moulson to the puck in the offensive zone and drops it for Letang
• Letang – gets a low shot on net that leaves a rebound
• Kunitz – starts the break out in the defensive zone and buries the rebound in front when he gets to the crease

5th Goal For (Neal): + for

• Letang – clears the defensive zone with a hard pass off the boards
• Neal – takes the puck, goes in on a breakaway, and beats Nabokov

6th Goal For (Dupuis): + for

• Kunitz – forces a turnover in the offensive zone, receives a pass from Dupuis and sends it down to Crosby
• Crosby – passes the puck across the slot to Dupuis
• Dupuis – one-times the puck past Poulin

Get the full season +/- here:  Season +/- Spreadsheet

Game 24 - Penguins 5 Flyers 4: Goal Assessment

Get the post-game thoughts here:  The PensNation

+/- Assessment:

1st Goal Against (Voracek): - for

• Neal – in the penalty box for elbowing (a soft call, but he still put himself in position for it unnecessarily)
• Martin – had no clue Voracek was sliding down from his point position
• Orpik – didn’t adjust to Simmonds going down low, leaving Martin to cover Simmonds and the back side

1st Goal For (Kunitz): + for

• Crosby – steals the puck at the blue line from Couturier and passes it to Letang
• Letang – puts the puck into the slot/crease area
• Kunitz – picks up the puck in front and scores

2nd Goal Against (Rinaldo): - for

• Niskanen – not back into the play yet after serving an interference penalty
• Crosby – doesn’t go out to the point after the faceoff (miscommunication with Kunitz)
• Kunitz – doesn’t go out to the point after the faceoff (miscommunication with Crosby)
• Engelland – leans on Rinaldo, but releases when the puck gets to the net

3rd Goal Against (Timonen): - for

• Engelland – stops abruptly in front of Fleury, creating a screen instead of following the puck out to Timonen
• (also Fleury’s fault, he should have had it)

4th Goal Against (Voracek): - for

• Neal – in the penalty box for slashing
• No One Else – there were 3 bad bounces that worked against the Pens in about 4 seconds

2nd Goal For (Dupius): + for

• Kunitz – keeps the puck in on the first clearing attempt
• Orpik – gets the puck at the blue line and fires it to the net
• Crosby – takes the puck behind the net and gives Dupuis a perfect saucer pass
• Dupuis – scores on a wide open net

3rd Goal For (Neal): + for

• Bennett – takes the puck away from Simmonds in the offensive zone
• Malkin – draws Coburn’s attention on the crease and pulls him further away from Neal
• Neal – puts the puck towards the net and it banks in off of Coburn

4th Goal For (Kennedy): + for

• Sutter – dumps puck in, tries to put it on net, and provides a screen in front of Bryzgalov
• Cooke – keeps the puck in with a forecheck and then sets up Kennedy
• Kennedy – keeps the puck in with a forecheck and then finds open space to one-time Cooke’s pass into the net

5th Goal For (Kunitz): + for

• Dupuis – takes the puck away from Timonen at the defensive blue line, chips it up to Kunitz
• Crosby – sets up Kunitz for the goal
• Kunitz – passes the puck to Crosby and then gets into a shooting position to score the game winner

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

Malkin Returns at Full Strength, Pens - Lightning Goal Assessment

This will be a little out of order because I was out of town this past weekend.  Here is the goal assessment for the Tampa Bay game.  I will post the Montreal game on Tuesday (Game Center Live doesn't allow you to watch games until 48 hours afterwards) and update the season spreadsheet after that.
Full thoughts are at The PensNation.

+/- Assessment:

1st Goal For (Kunitz): + for

• Crosby – wins the puck battle in the corner, feeds Kunitz
• Kunitz – slides into open space for a one-timer goal

1st Goal Against (Stamkos): - for

• Vitale – doesn’t get back into the play to cover his guy, St. Louis
• Engelland – goes to the wrong guy and never actually covers his man, Stamkos

2nd Goal Against (Pyatt): - for

• Engelland – beat by Palat behind the net

2nd Goal For (Malkin): + for

• Malkin – forces turnover in the neutral zone and makes a beautiful power move to get through 2 defensemen and beat Lindback

3rd Goal For (Crosby): + for

• Letang – takes the puck behind the net and waits patiently for Sid to open up
• Crosby – steals puck back in defensive zone, feeds it to Letang, then slides into open space for a one-timer goal

4th Goal For (Neal): + for

• Letang – clears puck out of the zone to Malkin
• Malkin – enters the zone with the puck and passes it off to Neal
• Neal – scores on an empty net

3rd Goal Against (Stamkos): - for

• Glass – is completely unaware of Stamkos sneaking past him to stand alone next to the net

Pens Player Power Rankings - Week 3

Coming off of a 3-1 week that started with an ugly loss to the Isles and ended with Chris Kunitz being a superhero, here are your player rankings for Week 3.  If you're curious about the season averages or previous rankings, I've posted them here.

Rank	Player (Last Rank)	Last Week's Performance
1	Tomas Vokoun (10)	It's hard to argue 5 out of 7 periods of shutout hockey and 2 wins.  (2-0-0, 1.29 GAA, .949 Save %, 1 SO)
2	Sidney Crosby (4)	His passing and skating look up to speed finally and his turnovers are tailing off. (1g, 7a, 56/101 faceoffs)
3	Chris Kunitz (18)	Hopefully Kunitz spreads whatever disease he had to the rest of the team.  Set a career high with 4 goals on Sun. (5g, 3a, 6 hits)
4	Paul Martin (2)	Continues to quietly provide solid defense and has also been  poised and smart with the puck on offense. (2a, 3 hits, 8 blocks)
5	Brooks Orpik (1)	For the most part, Orpik has sacrified the big hit numbers for proper positioning. It's working. (3 hits, 7 blocks)
6	Evgeni Malkin (7)	Geno is returning back to offensive form despite having 30 linemates a game. Faceoffs are an issue. (1g, 5a, 21/46 faceoffs)
7	James Neal (5)	A rise in his defensive and physical efforts have cost him on the stat sheet, but we'll take defensive wins any day. (1g, 1a, 8 hits)
8	Kris Letang (6)	Showing a brand new patience with the puck on offense, but certainly misses Niskanen on defense. (2g, 2a, 6 hits, 7 blocks)
9	Pascal Dupuis (12)	Has complemented Crosby and Kunitz nicely while taking care of the defensive end for the top line. (1g, 3a)
10	Robert Bortuzzo (23)	Finally made his season debut and has shown no signs of rust from sitting out. (1g, 1a, 2 PIM, 4 hits, 5 blocks)
11	Deryk Engelland (11)	Has seen more playing time since Niskanen's injury and has been sericeable. (1a, 5 hits, 6 blocks)
12	Marc-Andre Fleury (3)	Had a rough outing with little help against NYI but came back better against limited shots vs NJ. (1-1-0, 3.00 GAA, .848 Save %)
13	Simon Despres (21)	Showing the inconsistencies of a normal rookie NHL defensemen, but improving. (1g, 1a, 6 PIM, 11 hits, 2 blocks)
14	Joe Vitale (16)	Has been putting on a forechecking clinic and has also done a wonderful job on faceoffs, especially in D zone. (28/42 faceoffs)
15	Tanner Glass (13)	Put together a strong week on the PK and even drew penalties as well.  Fits nicely supporting Vitale's speed. (11 hits)
16	Brandon Sutter (14)	First goal as a Penguin and was good defensively. Linemates aren't helping him though. (1g, 1a, 28/56 faceoffs, 6 blocks)
17	Craig Adams (17)	Knows his role and played most situations safely.  Had some turnover issues towards the end of the week. (1a, 7 hits)
18	Zach Boychuk (NA)	Showed great speed and potential to be the 2nd line winger, but needs more games first. (4 shots, 4 hits)
19	Matt Cooke (15)	Finally scored this weekend but was usually invisible on the ice. (1g, 1a, 8 hits)
20	Tyler Kennedy (9)	Rotated between invisible on the ice, missed shot, and turnover. Fell off greatly over the past week. (10 shots, 2 PIM)
21	Dustin Jeffrey (22)	Looked alright in the lineup but has returned to healthy scratch world. (3 shots, 1 hit)
22	Ben Lovejoy (20)	Did not look alright in the lineup and was healthy scratched for Bortuzzo. (3 blocks)
23	Eric Tangradi (19)	Is falling further on the depth chart with the addition of Boychuk. (Did Not Play)
Inj	Matt Niskanen (8)	Still out another week or more with an ankle injury. (Injured)

Let me hear it, what would you change?