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 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 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 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 37 - Sabres 4 Penguins 1

Link to Game 37 Thoughts: The PensNation



+/- Assessment

1st Goal Against (Porter): - for

• Niskanen – makes a blind pass in his own zone directly to the Sabres which leads to a shorthanded goal

1st Goal For (Iginla): + for

• Malkin – wins a puck battle at the right faceoff circle down to Kunitz in the corner
• Kunitz – skates out with an open lane to the net and waits for the defenseman to go down before passing to Iginla in the slot
• Iginla – beats Miller with a shot from on top of the crease

2nd Goal Against (Ott): - for

• Sutter – doesn’t keep up with Ott skating through the neutral zone and loses him completely
• Eaton – screens Vokoun on the shot

3rd Goal Against (Hodgson): - for

• Orpik – gets flat-footed/can’t keep up with Hodgson and tangles up with Vokoun at the side of the net
• Eaton – doesn’t have his head on a swivel and keeps his back to the play instead of supporting the area around the net

4th Goal Against (Porter): - for

• Glass – doesn’t help Engelland with a clear and loses the puck at the top of the zone, then loses Porter as he skates down with the puck
• (just bad luck for Engelland having the puck go off of his skate which threw Vokoun off)

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