Luca Pinelli has been scoring goals and generating offence at an unbelievable rate over the past week. He is the player of the week from Sunday November 5th-Sunday November 12th.
Through four games this week, Luca Pinelli has put up 10 points, including 7 goals.
The Ottawa 67's captain is known for his lethal release and ability to put the puck in the net, but this is the best stretch of hockey that we have ever seen from him. In the win over Sarnia today, he tallied his 15th goal of the season. This gives him second-most in the OHL, trailing only Carson Rehkopf who has 19.
Going back to Ottawa's 8-3 win over the Barrie Colts last Sunday, Pinelli grabbed a hat trick and four points.
He was able to make it back-to-back hat tricks with three goals against the Oshawa Generals on Friday. Goals are coming left-and-right for Pinelli right now, and his production didn't stop for the rest of the 67's 3-in-3 this weekend.
Pinelli was able to grab another goal and two assists in the two games against the Generals and the Sting on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
Wrapping up this week for Pinelli, he scored two hat tricks and a total of 10 points through just four games. His team was able to win 3-out-of-4 of those games with the help of Pinelli's production.
The most interesting part of Pinelli's recent success is how he is scoring his goals. Last season, a large majority of his goals came off a one-timer from the top of the off-wing circle. This season, he has been able to find the mesh in a variety of ways.
In this hat trick against Oshawa on Friday, he scored in three very different fashions. His first goal was a wicked curl-and-drag snipe from the top of the right circle. On goal #2, he was able to take advantage of a miss-handle by the opposing goaltender. To finish off the hat trick, he received a great breakaway feed off of the boards before manipulating the goaltender with his handles.
Because Pinelli is showcasing his ability to score in a wide-variety of ways, he has become a more lethal goal-scorer. As an opposing defender, the combination of his powerful release and shifty edges make Pinelli difficult to track in the offensive zone.
The Blue Jacket's prospect has a way of sneaking into open lanes at the perfect times. He has high spatial awareness to find these open spots and shoot the puck before the opposing defenders can even recognize it. His offensive upside is becoming more exciting with these recent high-goal-scoring games and his unpredictability in the offensive zone.
Columbus has sure found a good one in Luca Pinelli, whom they took with their 2023 4th round pick. Many doubted Pinelli due to his smaller size, but not many players in the OHL compete and read the offensive zone as well as he does.