October 15, 2011: Max Pacioretty and David Desharnais are causing a ruckus down low in the Avalanche zone. As the Avs try to clear the puck up the boards, Andrei Kostitsyn intercepts the puck and sends a back pass to Pacioretty up high. Pacioretty sends a slap pass to Desharnais who tips it past Semyon Varlamov for his first goal of the year. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
October 29th, 2011: Desharnais brings the puck down low in the Bruins zone, then passes up to Yannick Weber to make some room for himself. Weber dishes the puck back to Desharnais who begins to drive the middle but then passes to Mike Cammalleri at the side of the net, which brings the Bruins defenders down on Cammalleri. Cammalleri then centers the puck in front of the net, where Desharnais arrives to snap the puck past Tim Thomas. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
November 12th, 2011: After a neutral zone turnover by the Predators, Josh Gorges finds Desharnais at the Nashville blueline but Desharnais can’t control the pass. The puck bounces to Erik Cole though, with him and Desharnais on a 2-on-1 break. Cole passes to Desharnais after the Preds defender commits, and Desharnais makes Pekka Rinne look a little bit AHL-like with a sweet deke move and a goal. This goal was a team effort off the rush.
December 1st, 2011: Cole chips the puck out of the Canadiens zone and Desharnais hustles to beat the Sharks to it, getting himself a breakaway. A quick wrister beats Antti Niemi on the stick side. This goal was an individual play off the rush.
December 15th, 2011: Pacioretty takes a shot that goes off Desharnais’ skates and behind the Flyers net. While Desharnais pursues the puck, Pacioretty and Cole both crash the net, bringing 3 Philadelphia players into the crease and eventually knocking over Sergei Bobrovsky. Desharnais circles around the scrum and protects the puck from two Flyer pokechecks to score on the yawning cage. I don’t think you can take anything away from Desharnais on this goal, it showed amazing poise and patience, but it wasn’t an individual play because it never could have happened without the chaos created by his linemates, so for this one it’s a goal on a zone play.
December 29th, 2011: Kostitsyn brings the puck over the line and sends a drop pass to Desharnais. Desharnais waits for the Lightning defenders to make a screen for him and snipes a goal top corner on Mathieu Garon. This goal was a team effort off the rush.
January 15th, 2012: Cole brings the puck out of the Habs zone and finds Pacioretty at the Rangers blueline. Pacioretty brings it down low, spins to evade a check while simultaneously firing a pass cross ice to Desharnais in front of the net, who tips the puck past Henrik Lundqvist. This goal was a team effort off the rush.
January 25th, 2012: Desharnais breaks into the Red Wings zone on a 2-on-1 with Raphael Diaz. The Red Wings defenseman gives Desharnais piles of room so he makes a nice little move and backhands the puck between the legs of Jimmy Howard. This goal was an individual play off the rush.
Tomorrow, we make some conclusions about Desharnais’ 2011-12 goalscoring.
