Goals 23 to 33 of Pacioretty’s 2011-12 season:
February 11th, 2012: David Desharnais works the puck from down low up to the right point and passes to P.K. Subban. Subban fakes a shot and goes back to Desharnais, who sets up Subban for a one-timer. The shot is blocked in front but goes right to Max Pacioretty in the slot, who makes no mistake in firing it home. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
February 15th, 2012: Desharnais takes the puck over the offensive blueline and tries to set up Erik Cole, but he’s covered by two Bruins defenders. The puck bounces right back to Desharnais however, and he finds Pacioretty open in the high slot, who beats Tim Thomas. This goal was a team play off the rush.
February 19th, 2012: Pacioretty works the puck from the corner into a shooting position, and he lets one go that’s stopped by Martin Brodeur, but he can’t cover it. Cole and Desharnais both get unsuccessful swipes at the puck before Desharnais takes it behind the net and passes to Tomas Kaberle in front of the net. Kaberle’s shot is blocked by Ilya Kovalchuk but the puck finds Pacioretty, who scores. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
March 1st, 2012: Desharnais and Subban go back and forth along the boards on the right side, before Desharnais gives it to Pacioretty beside the net on the goal line. Pacioretty notices that a Wild defenseman has made a miscue and he takes the puck out into scoring position, waits for the Wild defenseman to set an inadvertent screen and beats Josh Harding on the short side on the powerplay. This one is close, but due to Pacioretty creating a scoring opportunity from nothing, I’m going to call it an individual effort on a zone play.
March 6th, 2012: Pacioretty goes cross ice to Chris Campoli to clear the zone, and Campoli sends the puck right back to him. After gaining the Flames’ zone, Pacioretty wrists it on net and catches Miikka Kiprusoff off guard for a weak goal. Although this one was lucky, it was an individual play off the rush.
March 6th, 2012: Subban takes the puck low and shoots from a sharp angle. The puck is stopped by squeaks out the other side, where Pacioretty is waiting, but he backs off and let’s Subban take the puck. Subban then takes the puck back up to the point and fires again. The shot takes a bounce off of a Flames defender and to Desharnais who’s stopped on the goal mouth by Kiprusoff, but Pacioretty pounces on the loose puck and scores on a backhand from his knees. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
March 8th, 2012: Scott Gomez clears the defensive zone and passes cross ice to Pacioretty, who gains the Oilers’ zone and leaves a drop pass for Gomez, who then takes the puck around the back of the net for a failed wraparound on Nikolai Khabibulin. Pacioretty however, is right there to bang home the loose biscuit. This goal was a team effort off the rush.
March 8th, 2012: Subban intercepts a pass in the defensive zone and skates the puck up ice. After shrugging a check off and gaining the zone, he passes to Pacioretty who scores on the empty net. This goal was a team effort off the rush.
April 4th, 2012: Josh Gorges sends a wrist shot towards the net that’s tipped by Cole. The tip causes Mathieu Garon to lose his balance while making the save, and he lets out a rebound that Pacioretty puts into the net with a backhand. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
April 4th, 2012: Pacioretty takes the puck from the defensive zone, eludes a hipcheck by Victor Hedman, then breaks in on the Lightning zone and beats Garon with his patented quick release. This goal was the definition of an individual play off the rush.
April 7th, 2012: Jake Gardiner is stripped of the puck by Gorges, who waits for a nice lane to send a long bomb pass to Pacioretty at the Maple Leafs’ blueline. Pacioretty waits out Ben Scrivens and puts the puck over his shoulder on the short side. This goal was an individual effort off the rush.
*****
So what can we learn from the goals scored in Pacioretty’s 2011-12 season?
| Goals | Goals on zone plays | Goals off the rush | Goals on individual plays |
| 33 | 14 | 19 | 9 |
Surprisingly enough, Pacioretty scored the same number of goals on individual plays as Tomas Plekanec, in spite of scoring nearly double the goals overall. This means that just 27.3% of Pacioretty’s goals were individual efforts, a sign that he had strong linemates.
More of Pacioretty’s goals game off the rush, at 61.3%. This is partly, in my opinion, due to Pacioretty’s poor shooting luck on the powerplay last year, where he scored only 4 goals.
Tomorrow we begin our look at Erik Cole, with his first 12 goals of the 2011-12 season.
