Penalty Shot Strategy - Offense

by Dan Torretta - 9/2/2026

Penalty Shot Strategy - Offense

Too often I’ve seen penalty shots end in the most anticlimactic way: flubbing the ball and trying to recover only to shoot it right into the goalie’s chest with no power.

How does this happen? What was the shooter’s plan?

Usually, the answer to the second question is simple: There wasn’t one, which happens to answer the first question as well. If you go into a penalty shot situation with the game plan of seeing what the goalie is going to do, you’re already at a disadvantage. You’re giving the goalie all the power in the situation and hoping you’ll be quick enough to react to them.

An even worse strategy is to go in with a scenario already played out in your head. You think “I’ll deke one way to fake him out and go the other way to shoot.” Then as you get closer to the goalie you realize he’s not biting like you thought he would. Now you’re stuck scrambling at the last second to react to what he’s doing and…flubbed ball and weak shot right to the chest.

The problem with both of these strategies is either a lack of a backup plan, or a lack of a plan altogether. So, what should you do?

Develop one move that you can go to time and time again that has two variations to it. Practice it, learn it by heart. Make goalies know that you’re using THIS move, but scared because they don’t know which version of the move they’ll see. In the video below you can watch Peteris Trekse use the same move on the same goalie twice…in the same game. That’s how confident he is in his move.

Peteris Trekse Penalty Shot

Ok, but why did the goalie bite both times the same way? Here’s another video of Trekse using the same move in another game. But this time he goes the other way with it.

Another Shot - Same Move

You can see in the lead up he’s not doing anything different. He doesn’t waste time thinking about what he’s going to do. He knows full well what he’s doing as he builds up. The only thing he needs to think about is if the goalie is leaning left or right and reacting accordingly. Goalies are now scared of him because they know he’s lethal in either direction.

So, develop your own move. Make sure you go one of two ways with it. Make goalies feel helpless!

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