March 9th, 2013: A huge scrum in front of the net and Cedrick Desjardins loses the puck as he tries to cover it. After everyone seems to have lost track of where the puck was, Brian Gionta is hanging back a little bit so he isn’t tied up in the scrum, and he finds the loose puck and taps it home. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
March 10th, 2013: Tomas Plekanec works the puck behind the net and gets it out to P.K. Subban at the point. Subban wires a slap shot on net that Gionta redirects. Jakob Markstrom manages to stop it but give up a big rebound. Gionta pounces on the rebound and beats Markstrom with a wrist shot. If the tip went in I’d call it a team effort, but I think Gionta both redirecting the shot and grabbing the rebound here is enough for me to call it an individual effort on a zone play.
March 21st, 2013: David Desharnais recovers a loose puck in the high slot and immediately recognizes that Gionta is open to the side of the net. He sends a hard pass to the captain for an easy tip that Poulin has no chance on. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
April 4th, 2013: P.K. Subban holds the puck at the blueline, drawing in a couple of Jets‘ penalty killers, then sets up Lars Eller for a shot with some space. Gionta is set up in front of Ondrej Pavelec for the screen, and Eller’s shot redirects off his… cup… and in. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
April 17th, 2013: Want to see what the worst play by play in the league looks like? How about taking 4 full second to realize a goal is scored? Pretty embarrassing stuff from Pittsburgh. Eller dumps the puck in on a line change and Brandon Prust forechecks aggressively, beating Brooks Orpik to the puck and sending out a centering pass to Gionta, who quickly snaps it through Marc-Andre Fleury. This one was almost a zone play but since Gionta was still skating in and no one was set up, I’m going to say it was a team effort off the rush.
April 18th, 2013: The Lightning gain possession and are set to clear the puck, but mishandle it at their own blueline as Rene Bourque goes off on a line change. Coming off the bench, Max Pacioretty grabs the puck and finds an open Tomas Plekanec, who puts a hard pass towards Gionta, who tips the puck past Ben Bishop. This was a zone play in that it all took place in the offensive zone, however the play style that lead to the goal was a team effort off of a turnover off the rush.
April 18th, 2013: Michael Ryder gets the puck up to Yannick Weber in great shooting position, but he can’t get a shot through as his first attempt is blocked, and his second attempt goes wide and rebounds off the boards. Gionta is right there however, and he fights to get to it first and knocks it past Ben Bishop for the second time in the game. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
Tomorrow we’ll break down Gionta’s goals and compare them to 2010-11.
