February 2nd, 2013: David Desharnais chips the puck out of Montreal’s zone and up to Lars Eller, who then drops it back to Desharnais, who takes the puck in and releases a quick slapshot that beats Ryan Miller. Normally I’d call this an individual effort because Desharnais took the puck into a scoring area himself, but Eller ensures that Jordan Leopold is caught in no-man’s land and can’t defend, and Erik Cole takes Tyler Myers out of the play as well, which makes things much easier on Davey, so we’ll call this one a team effort off the rush.
February 2nd, 2013: Desharnais takes the puck around the net and passes it up to Francis Bouillon, who one-touches to P.K. Subban for a one-timer. Enroth makes the save but Eller gathers up the rebound and finds an open Desharnais at the side of the net and he snaps it home. This was a team effort on a zone play.
February 3rd, 2013: Cole and Desharnais break into the Senators‘ zone on a bit of a messy entry that ends up along the back boards, and Ottawa gains possession. Ottawa tries to make a pass but Cole is watching and gets his stick on the puck, which deflects to Max Pacioretty at the top of the circle. Pacioretty just puts a quick wrist shot on net, and Desharnais gets a tip on it that fools Craig Anderson. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
February 16th, 2013: Pacioretty streaks down the right side and tries to cut in but can’t quite get the shot off, so he goes behind the net and tries to set up Brendan Gallagher. He also can’t get wood on rubber but the puck bounces into empty space where Desharnais is coming in to bat the puck home through Brian Boucher. This was a team effort off the rush.
March 2nd, 2013: Desharnais reverses the puck up the boards to Andrei Markov, who sends a pass over to Alexei Emelin. Emelin blasts one on net that Tomas Vokoun can’t control as Desharnais is speeding in front of him. Desharnais corrals the rebound and slides it around Vokoun and in. Because it was a rebound, most of the time I’d say this was a team effort, but I love the control Desharnais has here, to keep calm under pressure and just move around Vokoun and put it in the net, I’m going to say it’s an individual effort on a zone play.
March 3rd, 2013: Johnny Boychuk makes a hilariously awful defensive play, giving the puck right to Desharnais at the side of the net. Desharnais instantly puts the puck out front and it goes off Boychuk again and past Tuukka Rask. This goal can’t be anything but an individual effort on a zone play as no other Canadiens player touched the puck.
March 3rd, 2013: Pacioretty and Gallagher gain the zone and Gallagher rips a slap shot on Rask. It trickles along Rask’s side and Pacioretty is there to put it through him out into the crease, and Desharnais streaks in to smack it into the cage. This goal was a team effort off the rush.
March 10th, 2013: Emelin clears the zone with some help from Gallagher and Desharnais picks up the puck in transition. He fights off a check and breaks into the Panthers‘ zone, then takes a rocket of a wrist shot against the grain and beats Jacob Markstrom. This goal was an individual effort off the rush.
April 3rd, 2013: Emelin tries to take a shot that’s blocked by Wayne Simmonds, but the puck bounces to Desharnais along the half wall. Desharnais turns and takes a slap shot that flat out beats Ilya Bryzgalov from far out and not a great angle. This goal was an individual effort on a zone play.
April 25th, 2013: Markov sets up Subban for a one-timer that hits Ron Hainsey in the skate, but bounces right to Desharnais with nothing to shoot at but net. He puts it home easily. This goal was a team effort on a zone play.
Next we’ll look at how Desharnais’ season compared to last year.
