October 9th, 2011: We don’t get to see the setup on the play, but what we do see is Max Pacioretty carrying the puck from his own defensive zone, barreling down the left wing on a break with Brian Gionta, then ripping a wrist shot past Ondrej Pavalec. This goal was an individual play off the rush.
October 15th, 2011: Ryan O’Reilly fails to clear the Colorado zone as Andrei Kostitsyn applies pressure. The puck comes to Pacioretty who shoots, but Varlamov makes the save. The rebound is gathered up by Kostitsyn, who sends it to Diaz at the blueline. Diaz shoots, but the high shot hits David Desharnais. Pacioretty gets two chances on the loose puck and buries the second one. This goal was the result of a team effort and was a zone play.
October 26th, 2011: In the Flyers‘ zone Pacioretty passes it up the boards to P.K. Subban, who shoots the puck into Josh Gorges in front of the net. The puck bounces to Pacioretty who easily puts it by an out of position Ilya Bryzgalov. This goal was a team effort and a zone play.
October 26th, 2011: Off of a faceoff Gorges shoots quickly and handcuffs Bryzgalov. Tomas Plekanec fails to put home the rebound but Pacioretty is there for a second rebound and puts it past the sprawling goalie. Again this goal was not an individual effort on a zone play.
November 5th, 2011: Plekanec carries the puck out of the defensive zone and passes to Gionta. Gionta gains the offensive zone and shoots to Henrik Lundqvist’s far pad for a rebound. The rebound goes right to Pacioretty who buries it into the yawning cage. This goal was off the rush but it was not an individual effort.
November 8th, 2011: Subban sends the puck to Plekanec who clears the zone and finds a streaking Pacioretty. Pacioretty finds the gap between the two Oilers defenders as he receives the puck and releases a backhander that fools Nikolai Khabibulin and goes five-hole. This play was very tough to call since Plekanec made a great pass to create this opportunity for Pacioretty. However, Pacioretty put himself in great position, and keeping the methodology consistent, I have to give this one to Pacioretty as an individual play off the rush.
November 12th, 2011: Subban carries the puck at the point and finds an open Pacioretty at the faceoff dot. Pacioretty waits for the Predators defenseman to come to him, then releases a quick wrist shot that beats Pekka Rinne his on the short side. Due to his patience and release I want to give Pacioretty more credit here, but Subban drew seemingly the entire Nashville team with him, which gave Pacioretty a lot of time to get set. This zone play goal was not an individual effort.
November 14th, 2011: Gorges sends the puck up the ice to Desharnais, who gives it to Erik Cole in order to stay onside, then gets it right back. Desharnais then sends a bouncing pass off of a Sabres defender, which Pacioretty takes a swipe at. The puck trickles in past Jhonas Enroth in a very unpredictable way. This goal was a team play off the rush.
November 17th, 2011: After a bad dump in by the Canadiens, Lars Eller applies some forechecking pressure and intercepts an outlet pass by the Islanders. Eller then sends the puck to a wide open Pacioretty in the high slot, who one times it passed Rick Dipietro. This was a zone play on an opportunity that was created by Eller, so it was not an individual effort.
November 26th, 2011: Pacioretty gains possession of the puck in the neutral zone and sends it cross ice to Cole who breaks in on net and let’s a shot go. Marc-Andre Fleury stops the shot but lets out a huge rebound right to Desharnais. Realizing Zbynek Michalek has his shooting lane blocked, Desharnais waits for Fleury to begin shifting to his right, then passes it to Pacioretty who scores before Fleury can adjust and go back to his left. This goal was a team effort all around off the rush, but special credit to Desharnais for the awesome hockey sense involved all around. Pacioretty was suspended for a hit on Kris Letang later in this game.
December 10th, 2011: Tomas Kaberle weaves through a few Devils and gains the offensive zone for the Habs, then sends the puck to Cole. Cole passes it on instantly to Pacioretty, who releases a deadly snap shot that beats Martin Brodeur high glove side. The goal was a team play off the rush.
Tomorrow, we look at part of Pacioretty’s 2011-12 season, goals 12-22.
