Jack Johnson was in good shape. On Dec. 27, 2024, once David Pastrnak stickhandled out of the left corner at Nationwide Arena, the Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman broke for the near post to deny his opponent’s net-front arrival. By doing so, Johnson angled Pastrnak to where the majority of NHL players cannot score: behind the net.
The Boston Bruins right wing didn’t have many options. Instead of stopping in front for a between-the-dots bumper shot, Pavel Zacha cut across the slot. Damon Severson filled Pastrnak’s passing lane to Morgan Geekie inside the left faceoff dot.
But Pastrnak can make something out of nothing. When he carries the puck behind the net, he considers it a refuge until he can create a play.
Pastrnak paused. This triggered Columbus breakdowns.
Johnson pursued him behind the net. Severson and Cole Sillinger turned to face Pastrnak. Then Severson turned his stick to deny Pastrnak’s pass to Geekie at the left dot. This opened up a slot-line seam for Pastrnak to Zacha, who had drifted inside the right dot. Goalie Elvis Merzlikins, who was tucked against the near post in reverse-vertical-horizontal position (RVH), could not lunge over in time as Zacha caught the puck on his forehand and whipped it into the top of the net.
As Clear Sight Analytics chief operating officer John Healy explains in this clip, the Blue Jackets were guilty of paying too much attention to Pastrnak:
“We want to stay on each other’s forehands when we pass to each other,” Zacha explained. “So when I see him coming on his backhand behind the net, I know that most of the time, he’s going to curl up back to his forehand. So I was just waiting. I saw him turning and he saw that I’m high. He always tells me to slide and go far side — not go to the net front. I was trying to get lost.”
Pastrnak excels at creating offense from below the goal line. According to Clear Sight Analytics, as of March 14, he had created five high-danger scoring chances off passes from behind the net during five-on-five play. The Bruins scored on four of the five chances.
Leaguewide, Sidney Crosby had created an NHL-leading 14 five-on-five high-danger chances with below-the-line passes. The Pittsburgh Penguins scored twice. Other players comfortable behind the net, according to the data, include Alexis Lafrenière (nine chances created, one goal), Robert Thomas (nine chances created, two goals), Drake Batherson (seven chances created, three goals) and Bo Horvat (seven chances created, three goals).
“When you’re defending and you use the back of the net, it’s tough on the opposition,” Bruins interim coach Joe Sacco said. “Because all eyes are focused on the puck. So you usually have the opportunity, at times, to catch someone out of position.”
The challenge of creating impossible-angle chances discourages most players from attacking the back-of-the-net problem. But given the high percentage of a well-executed below-the-line sequence becoming a goal, perhaps more NHLers should follow Pastrnak’s lead.
Tricky trapezoid
Wayne Gretzky made the ice behind the net his office. No. 99 is an exception.
The back of the net can be the NHL’s offensive badlands. The 275-square-foot trapezoid, specifically, is practically designed to deter offense.
Trevor Zegras and Andrei Svechnikov can occasionally execute the Michigan. But most NHL players cannot score from behind the net, especially from a standstill.
“When you get pucks below the goal line, you can’t get stuck,” Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “Whether it’s going east-west, stretching out the zone, that’s a big thing for us. Once you get stuck, it’s trouble.”
Defending a stationary puck carrier who stands behind the net is straightforward. If there is no net-front presence, defensemen are usually free to close.
But pursuit is not necessary. Well-positioned sticks, slot awareness and discipline lead to containment. The priority is to deny pass-outs, especially on the forehand, to the slot.
“When he’s behind the net, he’s not necessarily the most dangerous guy at the current moment,” Bruins defenseman Andrew Peeke said. “It’s the guys that are coming downhill and sitting net-front waiting for that pass-out.”
If each defenseman occupies a post, the attacker is practically in quicksand. Chance creation becomes limited if the defensemen stretch their sticks toward the puck. The puck carrier is trapped. The defensemen can also steer the attacker up the boards.
“If he’s directly behind the net, he’s not going to have anywhere to go,” former Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo, who was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs at the deadline, said of a scenario in which he and his partner seal the posts and extend their sticks. “You challenge him a little bit more, rather than letting him walk out like that. You can’t let him walk out like that. You’ve got to push him either up the wall or keep him directly behind the net. If you want to push him out, push him on his backhand.”
Wingers, meanwhile, are collapsing on the biggest threats in the slot. The center is low supporting his defensemen.
All of this pack-it-in play, however, can make life predictable for the attacking team. It’s where the brightest back-of-the-net thinkers can anticipate how coverage will align and initiate a dangerous sequence.
“You’re just trying to find a place, a starting point, to expand the zone,” Florida Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “You know that everybody’s going to collapse heavy. The puck starts there. You have a really strong idea of where their five players are. At some point, it has to go east-west, back up north or back to the blue line. It’s like an accordion. They’re going to collapse on you. Now we’ve got to pull them apart. Much safer to try and do that behind the net than at your blue line.”
There’s another reason offense can commence from behind the net. Goalies don’t like looking back for the puck.
Eyes everywhere
“Those are hard plays,” Bruins goalie Joonas Korpisalo said.”Really hard plays.”
Goalies like Korpisalo go down a checklist when the puck carrier goes behind the net. The No. 1 priority is to eliminate wraparounds. A goalie has to stay on his line.
Some goalies will fan their pads out to take away everything down low. Others will sit in RVH on the attacker’s forehand post.
But goalies also have to keep slot threats in sight while keeping track of the puck. It requires regular side-to-side scans from behind to out front, all while keeping their skates unlocked to move in a yet-to-be-determined direction.
“It’s preparing your feet in a way that you minimize the time trying to push out,” Korpisalo said. “Because you’ve got to get out. You have to get out. Once you’re stuck on the goal line, you take up less net. A play like that, coming from behind to the slot, you’ve got to get out.”
The sequence is so tricky that Clear Sight Analytics classifies a pass-out that produces a slot one-timer as a high-danger chance. It becomes even harder when the pass-out crosses the slot line.
“The degree he has to move to track the puck from passer to shooter is typically close to 180 degrees,” Healy said of a goalie in such situations. “He’s got to get up onto his feet and move his feet to find the shooter before he gets his angle, depth and squareness.”
Some shots are less dangerous. If the strong-side defenseman seals his post and forces the back-of-the-net player to hit a teammate outside the dot, it should be a routine save. The goalie exits RVH, gets to his feet, pushes slightly inside and out and squares up to the shooter.
If the attacker rolls up the boards and walks out front, the defenseman can challenge or hand off coverage to a wing. This gives the goalie enough time to set his feet and anticipate the shot.
But when the pass enters the slot, the goal-scoring probability spikes. Leon Draisaitl, Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are among the Edmonton Oilers who can thread the net-front needle. They are taught to pass to the slot with purpose.
“You want to put the puck in the slot. That’s where your most dangerous opportunities are,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “But if you run the risk of just throwing the puck there blind, you end up giving away possession and you end up having to defend. A lot of teaching we’ve talked about is making that high-percentage play. You’ve got to see it before you make that play.”
Superstars like Pastrnak with exquisite hockey sense are optimized for back-of-the-net patience. They wait for teammates to find openings in the slot. They buy time by keeping the puck away from defenders. They take advantage of a tendency players have trouble shaking: watching the puck.
“If you have time and space like this,” Pastrnak said, referring to his Zacha setup in Columbus, “you definitely try to look for the guy in the middle with the one-timer. Instead of forcing it to Geeks, for example, because it’s his off side. That’s definitely not there. So you definitely look first for the one-timer in the slot. If everything closes off, then you think about O-zone possession. Maybe go low to high to the D’s and create some movement around.”
Pastrnak’s first job is scoring goals. But in their time as teammates, Carlo noticed that he takes just as much pleasure in making plays from behind the net. Carlo has not played against his former team since being traded but does not enjoy the idea of having to defend Pastrnak in this situation.
“You probably look up and you’re like, ‘Oh f—, it’s Pasta,’” Carlo said.
(Top photo of David Pastrnak battling Johnathan Kovacevic for position behind goalie Sam Montembeault in 2023: Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images)