Observations from the Penguins’ 5-2 win against the Senators.

First things first, there was no update on Penguins forward Jake Guentzel.

After scoring his 20th goal of the season at 6:55 of the third, he was tripped up by Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot and crashed violently into the end boards.

Words really don’t do justice for how Guentzel’s body contorted after hitting the boards.

Despite that gruesome scene, he was able able to recover to his skates fairly quickly and lumbered off the ice hunched over and favoring his right shoulder.

At this point, the injuries to the Penguins - the sheer volume of them - just become numbing. But despite all of that, they keep plugging along.

Despite missing captain Sidney Crosby as well as top-four defensemen Brian Dumoulin and Justin Schultz for much of the month, the Penguins finished out December with a sturdy 10-2 record.

They may have to enter January without Guentzel, selected earlier on Friday afternoon as the team’s lone representative to the All-Star Game in January.

“We can do it,” said always resolute Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist. “We have a great group of guys in here. We’ve been through so many injuries. Whatever happens, it feels like we just find a way to win. We’re going to keep doing that because we have a good team.”

What happened

It took only 27 seconds for the Penguins to claim a lead. Off a cross-ice pass in the neutral zone from Guentzel, forward Evgeni Malkin pushed a puck up the left wing on a two-on-one with forward Bryan Rust against Senators defenseman Cody Goloubef. As Goloubef leaned down to take away the pass, Malkin elected to shoot and lifted a fairly pedestrian wrister past goaltender Marcus Hogberg’s glove hand on the far side for his 10th goal of the season. Assists went to Guentzel and defenseman Jack Johnson.

(Video courtesy NHL)

They made it a 2-0 contest at 11:44 of the first. Pushing a puck up the left wing, Penguins forward Joseph Blandisi absorbed a hit on the half wall from Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot and chipped a pass to the slot. With a step on Senators forward Nick Paul, Penguins forward Dominik Simon lifted a backhander past Hogberg’s blocker on the far side for his second goal in three games and fourth of the season. Blandisi and Hornqvist collected assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Ottawa got on the scoreboard at 4:21 of the second. Settling a bouncing puck in the left circle, Paul ripped a wrister that missed the cage and rimmed around the boards to the right point. Senators defenseman Christian Jaros settled the puck, surveyed the zone and snapped a pass back to Paul in the left circle. With Jarry out of position, Paul fired a wrister into the vacant cage for his fifth of the season. Jaros and forward Scott Sabourin had assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

The Penguins responded only 1:41 later. After Guentzel won a puck battle on the Senators’ end boards against Jaros, Rust claimed the puck, circled around the cage and emerge in the left circle. Rust snapped a pass to Malkin, wide open in the right circle. As Hogberg made a futile attempt to slide to his left, Malkin leaned down and fired a wrister for his second of the contest. Rust and Guentzel were credited with assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

It became a 3-2 contest at 15:58 of the second thanks to another goal by Paul. Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel pinched on a puck at the Ottawa blue line but Senators forward Connor Brown, a former Erie Otters star, chipped it up ice to create a two-on-one rush with Paul against defenseman Juuso Riikola. As Riikola offered passive resistance, Brown ripped a heavy wrister on net which Jarry kicked out. The rebound bounced to the right of the crease where Paul cleaned up the garbage. Assists went to Brown and Chabot.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Hornqvist’s seventh goal of the season only 67 seconds later made it a 4-2 game. Stealing a puck on the Senators’ right half wall, defenseman John Marino spun off a check from Senators forward Andreas Englund and whipped a pass attempt towards the crease. Senators defenseman Erik Brannstrom partially blocked the puck but it still found it’s way to Hornqvist to the left of the crease. Hornqvist immediately snapped it past Hogberg’s stick on the near side. Marino and forward Jared McCann had assists.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Pushing play into the offensive zone on the right wing, Rust chipped a cross-ice pass to Malkin in the left circle. Completely flummoxed by Malkin’s whereabouts, Goloubef inadvertently crashed into Hogberg and pushed him well out of the crease, leaving the cage completely vacant. Malkin slipped a tidy little forehand pass to the other side of the blue paint where Guentzel tapped in the easy score for his 20th of the season. Nearly an instant after the score, Chabot collided with Guentzel sending him into the boards. Assists went to Malkin and Rust.

(Video courtesy NHL)

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins led in shots, 33-26.

• Guentzel led the game with seven shots.

• Forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Brown and Chabot each led the Senators with four shots.

• Chabot led the game with 28:10 of ice time on 32 shifts.

• Defenseman Kris Letang led the Penguins with 22:41 of ice time on 29 shifts.

• The Senators controlled faceoffs, 35-29 (55 percent).

• Pageau was 11 for 21 (52 percent).

• Malkin was 10 for 22 (45 percent).

• Penguins forward Brandon Tanev and Brannstrom each led the game with three blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• Guentzel’s goal was his 200th career point.

• Jarry (27 wins) surpassed Peter Skudra (26) for 19th place on the franchise’s career wins list.

Randomly speaking

• Things got stupid at the end when Senators forward Brady Tkachuk tried to mix it up with Malkin and players on both sides jumped in on the festivities:

• Earlier in the first period, Malkin tussled with several of the Senators after a few cross checks:

• After recording only 10 penalty minutes in his first 23 games of the season, Malkin has racked up 14 penalty minutes in his past three games.

• Marino has 18 points (four goals, 14 assists) in 37 games this season.

Publicly speaking

• Sullivan had no issue with Chabot’s collision with Guentzel:

“I watched it afterwards. It appeared to me that it was incidental contact.”

• Marino on Guentzel’s importance to the team:

“He’s been huge. Not just on the stat sheet. Just kind of little things too. He makes plays on the defensive zone because he’s so good on the walls. He’s always in the right spots. Some things that most people wouldn’t notice.”

• Sullivan on Malkin:

“He’s just been a horse for us. He’s coming to play every night. You can see the threat he is when he’s at the top of his game. And he’s been that way. He’s so dominant with the puck, he’s so big and strong, he’s tough to contain. And he’s playing at both ends of the rink on both sides of the puck. That’s why we’ve been able to find some of the wins that we’ve gotten here over the last month or so. It’s not just about (Malkin) trying to score. It’s about him trying to play the game the right way. He’s getting defensive zone starts, he’s playing against other teams’ top players. We’ve put him in a really prominent role here and he’s really responded the right way for us. He’s been a dominant player night in and night out for us. Given the circumstances that the team is under right now, we need him to be that guy. But he’s certainly stepped up to that challenge.”

• Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki had a pretty interesting assessment of the Penguins:

“That’s a really good team over there. As objectively as I can look at it, probably the best coached team in the #NHL. They look flashy sometimes because you see guys like Malkin - Crosby’s not out there tonight - and Guentzel and Rust and these guys flying around. But they get those chances because their fundamentals are so solid. They put pucks behind (defensemen). Their gaps are great. They’re just really responsible. Then they kind of wear you down and you have breakdowns and it turns into these fancy grade-A (chances) for them. It could look a little misleading but it’s solid fundamentals by them. They took it too us.”

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights:

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