December 15th, 2011: Rene Bourque takes advantage of an embarrassing miscommunication by the Tampa Bay Lightning on what should have been a harmless play, chipping the puck past Brett Clark and scoring on Mathieu Garon through the fivehole. This goal was an individual play off the rush.
December 16th, 2011: Olli Jokinen takes possession of the puck deep in the Panthers zone, sending the puck up high to Alex Tanguay. Tanguay gives the puck back to Jokinen once he gets free along the half boards, which Jokinen then passes on to Bourque down low, who beats Jose Theodore short side. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
December 30th, 2011: Bourque gains the Senators zone by dumping the puck in, and Craig Anderson turns the puck over right back to Bourque on the clearing attempt. Mikael Backlund goes to the net and his body position prevents Anderson from getting back to the net. While this is happening Bourque lets go of a sharp angle shot that caroms off of Kyle Turris and into the net. I’m not sure how this goal counted, but it was a team effort off the rush. Side note to Sportsnet, get your giant graphic off the damn screen you bunch of idiots.
January 1st, 2012: Lee Stempniak sets up Bourque for a one-timer in great position but he heels it. Stempniak then takes the puck to the net, is stopped by Pekka Rinne, but gets the puck back and finds Bourque in front of the net for an easy tap in on the backdoor. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
January 21st, 2012: Hal Gill clears the puck up the boards, which is then recovered by Erik Cole to create an odd man rush. Cole sets up Tomas Plekanec for a one-timer but he misses the net. The puck comes right back out front however, and Bourque is there to smack the puck past a confused Jonas Gustavsson. This goal was a team effort off the rush.
January 25th, 2012: Scott Gomez gains the Red Wings zone and fires a pass to Bourque, who beats the Red Wings defenders to the middle and taps the puck home past Jimmy Howard. This goal was a team effort off the rush.
February 11th, 2012: Luke Schenn mishandles the puck in hilarious fashion, turning it over to Mathieu Darche in the Leafs zone. Darche finds Plekanec streaking back into the zone and Plekanec quickly sends a pass over to Bourque, who one-times it past James Reimer. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
February 24th, 2012: Plekanec leads a rush up the ice and stops after gaining the Capitals zone, then sends a pass to Alexei Emelin, who one touch passes to Bourque. Bourque one-times the pass through Michal Neuvirth for the goal. This goal was a team effort off the rush.
March 30th, 2012: Plekanec gains the Rangers zone and skates to the side of the net while Louis Leblanc crashes from the other side. Plekanec reverses a pass out in front of the net where Bourque is waiting to snipe it home past Henrik Lundqvist. This goal was a team effort off the rush.
*****
Totaling up Bourque’s goals, what can we learn from his 2011-12 season?
| Goals | Goals on zone plays | Goals off the rush | Goals on individual plays |
| 18 | 7 | 11 | 4 |
Bourque had nearly the same ratio of goals on zone plays to goals off the rush, with 61% of his goals coming off the rush, but he had 5 fewer individual goals despite scoring one more. Only 22% of Bourque’s goals came on individual efforts.
It’s notable that Plekanec and Alex Tanguay figured into Bourque’s scoring in a big way, and that a lot of his goals came on rebounds.
One season is tough to judge Bourque on, but by his low assist numbers and low total of individual plays, it seems that he relies very heavily on his linemates to create opportunities and is best in a role where he mops up rebounds or finishes off strong plays.
Tomorrow we start our look at David Desharnais.
