Penguins aim to maintain potent offensive production with Jake Guentzel sidelined

The Penguins have not allowed much room for critique from an offensive production standpoint.

Having scored six goals in four of five games and with a multitude of players getting involved, potent offense lifted the Penguins to a 4-0-1 overall record heading into Monday’s contest at Edmonton.

The Penguins are tied with Boston for the most goals with 26.

That is to take nothing away from goaltender Tristan Jarry, who boasts a 4-0 record, 2.01 goals-against average and .941 save percentage through four starts.

Granted, the Penguins have faced backup goalies in three of five games, notably missing a crack at elite Tampa Bay Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy, the 2021 Conn Smyth and 2019 Vezina Trophy winner, Oct. 15.

Instead, the Penguins torched 37-year-old Brian Elliot for five goals in an eventual 6-2 victory.

With contributions coming from all four lines and a power play (26.3%) that ranks 10th in the NHL, the Penguins have to be feeling pretty good about their offensive output.

“We’ve got balance from a process standpoint, just as far as generating opportunities,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “And I think when you look at the better teams in the league, they have that. It’s hard in this league to win consistently if you only rely on a few people to produce for you, offensively.”

The Penguins’ current five-game road trip is the longest of the 2022-23 campaign.

Following Saturday’s 6-3 win over Columbus, the Penguins have a tough visit to Western Canada, with back-to-back games against the Oilers and Calgary Flames.

From there, they play Friday at Vancouver and the following evening against the Seattle Kraken.

Four straight games away from Pittsburgh are on the calendar for mid-February, with the Penguins set to play Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Jose and the New York Islanders.

But here and now, the Penguins are navigating their lengthiest clip of away games.

Conveniently, it’s come at a time when they have been firing on all cylinders offensively.

“That’s what you need to win consistently, and that’s something that you want to build on all year. You want to see that,” captain Sidney Crosby said. “It’s not going to happen like that all the time. But when it does, you’ve got to make sure that those games are W’s.

“I think we’ve all done a good job of having everyone contribute in different roles and that sort of thing, but we’ve got to continue that. It’s a long season, but that plays a huge part in winning hockey games.”

The Penguins have relied on players in different roles given the absence of top-line winger Jake Guentzel. Guentzel, Crosby’s usual left winger, was struck in the side of the head by an errant shot by Kris Letang during last Thursday’s win over Los Angeles.

Sullivan moved Danton Heinen from the third line to Crosby’s wing in his absence. Brock McGinn bumped up to the third line from the fourth line.

The trickledown effect of the changes had the potential to throw things off but have not appeared to mess with the team’s chemistry. Quite the opposite, actually.

After the Penguins fell behind 2-0 following one period against the Blue Jackets on Saturday, Josh Archibald, skating with Ryan Poehling and Brock McGinn, scored his first goal of the season, launching a wrister past Columbus’ Elvis Merzlikins to trim his team’s deficit early into the second.

With Sullivan opting to roll with 11 forwards and seven defensemen in Guentzel’s absence Saturday, McGinn and Heinen, the two players arguably impacted the most by the line changes, both scored in the win.

Heinen tallied a pair of goals skating with Crosby and Rickard Rakell, with McGinn scoring a goal late in the third period on a backhanded rebound following a shot by Kasperi Kapanen.

The Crosby line continued to be productive Saturday, as the Penguins’ captain scored his third goal of the season about six minutes into the third period.

THAT'S OUR CAPTAIN ???? pic.twitter.com/WMRdqy7hD3

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) October 23, 2022

Brian Dumoulin claimed the assist on the goal, with Crosby burying the shot in signature fashion, having dropped to one knee awaiting the feed from Dumoulin.

When Guentzel returns to the ice remains unclear, with Sullivan telling reporters Sunday in Edmonton there is a chance the two-time All-Star could do so before the Penguins wrap up their road trip.

But in his absence, it’s been so far so good with respect to his teammates managing to generate offense.

“It makes it really hard to match up against us when all four lines are scoring and playing well like that,” forward Jason Zucker said. “It makes a big difference, and it’s something that we’re going to look to take advantage of and really exploit throughout the year.”