March 21st, 2013: Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher gain the zone on the Islanders and Pacioretty sends in Gallagher on a break. Gallagher goes to the backhand and beats Kevin Poulin through the wickets, but hits the post. Fortunately the Isles’ defensemen decide to knock the puck into the net. This goal was an individual effort off the rush.
March 27th, 2013: David Desharnais keeps the puck in the offensive zone with a blind shot that finds Pacioretty in the slot. Pacioretty isn’t in shooting position, but he deftly backhands the puck to an open Gallagher who swats the puck at the net. The puck goes off of Dennis Seidenberg’s stick, then his face, but Gallagher recovers it and puts it past a sprawling Tuukka Rask with his backhand. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
March 30th, 2013: Andrei Markov sends a pass to P.K. Subban at the point that he one-times on net, and Martin Biron is unable to control the rebound. Desharnais tries to grab the rebound but is boxed out, whereas Gallagher fights through and flips the puck into the Rangers‘ net. Subban’s initial shot puts Biron down and out, so this is a team effort on a zone play.
April 11th, 2013: Pacioretty puts a weak shot into Miller’s pads, then recovers the rebound and heads into the corner. He puts a pass in Desharnais’ wheelhouse for a one timer that’s also stopped by Ryan Miller. Gallagher though, has snuck behind the Sabres‘ defense and is all alone with the rebound. He just out-waits Miller by walking it across the crease and slides it home. Normally I would call a rebound goal a team effort, but Miller doesn’t seem to be in recovery mode here, and Gallagher has the presence of mind to not just try to jam the puck home, but to make Miller move laterally. This goal was a individual effort on a zone play.
April 15th, 2013: Subban sends a shot in from the point that Ilya Bryzgalov mishandles. Pacioretty picks it up behind the net and passes to Gallagher at the goal mouth and he flips it home. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
April 25th, 2013: Lars Eller finds Gallagher at the Jets‘ blueline, and soon after crossing Gallagher rips a slap shot from 10 feet outside the scoring area with no screen, but Ondrej Pavelec gonna Pavelec and he somehow flubs the shot and it trickles in. This goal was an individual effort insofar as that it was an individual effort by Pavelec. Okay, seriously, this goal was an individual effort off the rush as Eller didn’t really contribute to the goal much.
April 27th, 2013: Andrei Markov clears the zone up to Lars Eller at center ice, who wins a race to the puck and dumps the puck in. Gallagher wins another race to a loose puck in the slot and with James Reimer in panic mode, puts it into the nearly empty net. This goal was an individual effort off the rush.
May 2nd, 2013: Alex Galchenyuk and Tomas Plekanec exchange the puck in the corner, Galchenyuk then sending the puck up to Markov at the point to create space. Markov gives it right back, and Galchenyuk sends it back down to Plekanec at the bottom of the circle. Plekanec instantly sends the puck across the crease to Gallagher who one-times it past Craig Anderson. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
May 3rd, 2013: Francis Bouillon shoots wide on purpose to get the puck deep, and it bounces off of Brandon Prust to Alex Galchenyuk. Galchenyuk quickly threads the needle and finds Gallagher with a open cage, and Gallagher just tips the puck in. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
Tomorrow we’ll break down all of Gallagher’s goals and see how it looks.
