Top 10 Penguins goals of the 2019-20 season

A few days ago, Garrett wrote an article asking Pensburgh about the best goals of the season after listing two of his most memorable goals this year from Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin. There were several goals along with those two in the comment section that were definitely memorable as well, so I decided to make a list of the top ten goals scored this year by the Penguins to keep everyone's minds occupied for a few minutes during these strange times.

Enjoy.

Honorable Mention:

11/29/19 - Evgeni Malkin ENG against Vancouver:

It was more of an exclamation point than an empty net goal from Mr. 101, but it was probably one of my favorite non-playoff empty net goals ever scored. The slow-mo replay really shows how much actually went into this goal from the man we know as Geno around these parts.

He likely would have been awarded the goal regardless based on the delayed penalty, but he showed why he is the 101st greatest player ever with his skill and determination to not give up and make sure that the Penguins would come away with the victory in this one. If this was only honorable mention, there's a good chance Geno will be mentioned again later...

10. 1/19/20 - Teddy Blueger goal against Boston:

Teddy Blueger had just come out of the penalty box after watching his team kill his penalty after falling behind 3-0 early in this game, but he made up for it big time.

Dominik Simon made it 3-1 late in the 1st period before Teddy Blueger came out of the box early in the 2nd period and made an immediate impact. He disrupted a breakout from Boston and wisely moved the puck to Kris Letang who saw Sidney Crosby streaking through the center of the ice and feeds Crosby who takes the puck behind the net and coolly throws the puck between his legs from behind the net to a wide open Blueger who displays a sick set of mitts with a backhand-forehand move that fools Jaroslav Halak and Blueger roofs the puck to make it a 3-2 game.

The Penguins didn’t stop there and played one of the most memorable games of the year and came back to win 4-3 thanks to a two goal 3rd period that featured a short-handed goal by Jack Johnson (this keeps getting brought up, and almost made the list of goals this year, but again, I just don’t think Pensburgh is ready for that).

9. 10/23/19 - Jake Guentzel goal against Tampa Bay:

This was some amazing teamwork from the Penguins as Crosby, Guentzel and Dominik Simon combined for some amazing passing ability after Tristan Jarry makes a massive save. Jarry makes the great leg save and springs Crosby going the other way, which usually turns out well for the Penguins.

It did this time once again as Crosby chips a puck to Simon who makes a fantastic pass back to Crosby while falling down and Sid finds Guentzel streaking in through the slot as Andrei Vasilevskiy is left scrambling from side-to-side and Guentzel rips the puck home to give the Penguins the 2-1 lead.

Unfortunately the Penguins would blow that lead in the 3rd period and the Lightning came away with the 3-2 regulation victory.

The first goal for the Penguins in this game will be mentioned below...

8. 11/22/19 - Dominik Kahun goal against New Jersey:

Kahun does his best NHL20 impression and swiftly maneuvers around a Devils defenseman and made no mistake as he deposits the backhand goal past Mackenzie Blackwood who never had much of a chance on this one, as Patric Hornqvist was also wide open in front of the net but Kahun did all the work on this goal.

That opened up the scoring for the Penguins who skated away with a 4-1 victory that evening in Pittsburgh.

7. 10/22/19 - Brandon Tanev goal against Tampa Bay:

Brandon Tanev was a questionable signing at first, but he proved quickly that he was worth the contract early on. He scored his second goal of the year in the 11th game for Pittsburgh, and it was a dandy.

He displays his above-above average skating ability as he corrals a loose puck and fires it towards the net from the far side that misses the target, but he collects the loose change (Lange-ism) behind the net before anyone from the Lightning can react and quickly brings the puck around to the near side before turning to his backhand and rifling a puck that Vasilevskiy is still searching for and absolutely buries a puck from an angle that most NHL players wish they could bury pucks from. What a beauty from one-third of the BUZZSAW line on this play.

6. 1/14/20 - Dominik Simon goal against Minnesota:

This one will go down as a Simon goal, but it was Sidney Crosby who pulled off one of his many tricks as he passes the puck to himself off the back of the net and leaves the Wild defender wondering why he voluntarily signed up for such abuse as Crosby leaves him in his dust and fires a puck through the crease that Simon had no other choice but to finish, and he does just that.

Bob Errey says it best in the clip below, “That is mastery by the captain: 87”. There’s literally nothing you can do against that. This game was Crosby’s first game back after his core muscle surgery, and he showed he hadn’t missed a beat with four points in the Penguins 7-3 smackdown.

5. 10/5/19 - Patric Hornqvist goal against Columbus:

It was only the second game of the year for the Penguins, but the first line was in mid-season form on this goal. They were already up 5-1 midway through the 3rd period, but they kept their foot on the gas and once again Sidney Crosby did the heavy lifting on this play, and also dropped the gloves in this game.

Jake Guentzel gets a long pass from the d-zone and throws a pass towards Crosby who retrieves the pass between his legs, like only a handful of people on earth could do, and as quickly as he gets it sends it blindly, yet on the money, to Hornqvist who knows exactly what to do with it and sends it home to give the Penguins the 6-1 lead. They didn’t stop there and finished off the Blue Jackets by a 7-2 final score.

4. 11/4/19 - John Marino goal against Boston:

It’s hard to believe that this is only number four on this list, but John Marino scores his first goal in the NHL with quite a bit of flair. He checks off many boxes for his first goal:

• Out of the penalty box.
• Against hometown team.
• Family in the stands.
• Tie game with the clock bleeding down.
• Breakaway.
• Five-hole.
• Goalie going bonkers.

It really doesn’t get any better than that.

3. 10/18/19 - Kris Letang goal against Dallas:

I recently watched a nine minute video on YouTube of all the Penguins goals by defenseman this season, and I could have made a top ten for Letang’s goals alone this. This may have been his collective best work yet, which says quite a lot for such a talented player.

But this goal may be the nicest goal he’s ever scored. Say what you want about the two Stars players bailing out, Letang showed the patience and ability to easily dance around both players and had just enough time and space to squeeze the puck past Anton Khudobin who doesn’t know whether tho cry or wind his watch (Lange-ism).

That goal broke the 1-1 deadlock and Letang sealed the deal with an empty-netter late in the game to give the Penguins the 4-2 win that night in Pittsburgh.

2. 10/16/19 - Sidney Crosby goal against Colorado.

It should come to no surprise that Crosby once again makes this list, but it was quite difficult to rank his goals against his teammates because of how good he is each game and what is expected of him after nearly 1,000 NHL games. He’s probably got ten more highlight reel goals or assists this year that were left off this list, but this goal was by far his best this year against his hometown rival Nathan MacKinnon (it’s a shame he plays in the West as this would be a marquee matchup for the NHL).

There’s no stopping him. All you can do is try to contain him.

How much fried chicken can you eat?!? (Lange-ism)

1. 2/23/20 - Evgeni Malkin goal against Washington:

I was fortunate enough to be at this game. I was sitting on the blue line from the reverse TV angle and saw the brilliance first-hand. There are no words. Behold:

Let me know in the comment section below if there’s anything I missed. I’m sure there’s plenty of highlight reel material out there. Thanks for stopping by and hopefully this list put a smile on your face today. We’re one day closer to hockey!