On the official Ottawa Senators 2021 calendar, the cover athlete for April is Connor Brown. Whoever made that decision should start buying lottery tickets because they couldn’t have picked a better Senator. Brown scored a goal in eight straight games in April, breaking the franchise record for most goals in consecutive games. Connor Brown‘s scoring streak continued into May; he scored 15 goals in the Senators’ final 21 games, scoring the sixth-most goals in the league over that span. He finished the season with a personal-best 21 goals.
Brown is a decent goal scorer, but not a great one. He has 76 goals in 375 games. What has led to the best goal-scoring stretch of his career? It is a combination of his strong wrist shot, his ability to get open in front of the net, and strong defensive play.
Connor Brown’s Scoring Streak
Before April, Connor Brown was producing a good amount of offence. When he was on the ice, the Senators were expected to score 21.92 goals, and they scored a bit more with 25. What separated him in the Spring was the number of scoring chances Ottawa created when he was on the ice. Before April, Brown’s line would generate 6.7 scoring chances per game. From March 25 onwards that number jumped to 8.10. Nearly every shot the Senators took with Brown on the ice was a scoring chance. He converted on them. Ottawa was expected to score 18.62 goals with Brown but actually scored 28, and 15 of them he scored himself.
Let’s look at the video and see how Brown turned those scoring chances into goals.
Brown’s Wrist Shot
Connor Brown has an excellent wrist shot. It’s hard and fast and surprises goaltenders. Brown scored using the wrist shot three times in April, and each goal was against a western Canadian goaltender. Those goalies don’t usually see a lot of Brown, who has played his entire career in the East, so his shot catches them off guard.
Here’s a goal Brown scored on Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets on April 12. The speed of his shot makes Hellebuyck unable to track it perfectly. He gets his glove on it, but the puck hits the wrist protector and goes in.
Here’s another wrist shot goal Brown scored a few days earlier against the Edmonton Oilers. Brown receives the puck inside the blue line and twists his body to fire a wrist shot around Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and into the top corner of the net. The speed and accuracy of Brown’s shot, combined with the screen from Nugent-Hopkins, gave goaltender Mikko Koskinen no chance to stop it.
Getting Himself in Position To Score
Another way Brown was able to bury goals was by being in a position to do it. A common theme among goal scorers is they can find dangerous areas in the offensive zone to receive a puck and score. Few players can take the puck themselves and score. They need to get open so their teammates can set them up. Brown was successful at this.
In this goal, Brown is on a 2-on-1 with Nick Paul. Brown heads for the net, just to the right of Montreal Canadiens goaltender Jake Allen. This makes the decision-making easy for Paul. He shoots at the left pad of Allen, creating a rebound for Brown to bury.
Three days later, Brown gets himself open for a tap-in again. This is the goal where he ties the franchise record for most consecutive games with a goal. In this clip, Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Jake Muzzin puts his body in front of Brown and the front of the net, softly boxing him out. However, Muzzin doesn’t tie him up or get physical with him, and Brown uses this to his advantage. He puts his stick directly in front of Muzzin’s, preventing Muzzin from blocking the pass or tying him up. When Evgenii Dadonov passes the puck, Brown can knock it in because he got inside position.
The Shorthanded Sniper
Connor Brown’s scoring streak had a lot to do with his aggressive play shorthanded. His five shorthanded goals led the league, and they were all scored past March 25th. He and Nick Paul have formed a dangerous duo. They were takeaway machines; Brown had 56 takeaways this year, two behind former Senator and league leader Mark Stone. Paul had 40, which was the 14th best in the league. They would routinely steal the puck at the defensive blue line, go on an odd-man rush and score. That is what happened in the above goal against the Canadiens. Here are some more examples.
This is Brown’s final goal of the year. He steals the puck from Mitch Marner at the defensive blueline and skates past Morgan Rielly to get a good breakaway chance. Brown doesn’t initially score but follows up on the play and puts the puck past Toronto’s goalie Frederik Andersen and centre Auston Matthews. This is an example of how Brown’s thievery, speed and relentlessness led to a goal.
Here’s another one. Brown intercepts a pass from Noah Hanifin and breaks in with Paul on a 2-on-1. Brown feeds a pass to Paul who’s shot is stopped by Calgary Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom, but Brown follows up and puts the rebound away on his backhand.
This goal comes off a steal by Paul. Jets defenceman Neal Pionk can’t hold the puck in at the blue line, and the puck takes an odd bounce leading him to overskate it. Paul takes the puck and blows by Pionk, forcing Paul Stastny to try to stick check him. Stastny leaves Brown open, and Paul can hold on long enough to pass the puck to him. Brown shoots blocker side and scores.
These goals show that teams better be careful next season when Paul and Brown are penalty-killing. Both of them can quickly steal the puck and take off. They can be a dangerous penalty-kill duo for Team Canada at the upcoming World Championships.
Can Brown Keep This Up Next Season?
Connor Brown is a good goal scorer that can contribute 15-20 goals a year. Excellent for a middle-six forward. However, his goal-scoring streak is an outlier. Last season, Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored 11 goals in November to tie the Senators franchise record for the most goals in a month. Brown was one goal shy of joining Pageau for the record. Pageau and Brown are similar players, hard-working middle-six forwards with speed and skill. Pageau had a good season this year with 14 goals for the New York Islanders, but he’s not tearing it up. The same should be true for Brown next year. He will be a reliable contributor for secondary scoring for the Senators, but this streak won’t elevate him into another tier of goal scoring.
But watch out to see which month Brown falls on for the 2022 calendar.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
