Monday was an occasion to celebrate for Jake Guentzel.

Having largely carried the Penguins through the first three months of the season while several of his higher-profile teammates recuperated from various maladies, Guentzel’s productive efforts were recognized Monday afternoon when he was named the Penguins’ lone representative to the NHL’s All-Star Game exhibition in January.

And during the Penguins’ 5-2 brunoising of an Ottawa Senators lineup full of AHL-caliber talent Monday evening at PPG Paints Arena, Guentzel validated his credentials for such an honor by scoring a goal and adding two assists.

But only a few hours after being recognized for his skills, the Penguins’ steadiest, most reliable offensive talent saw the balance of his season put into considerable doubt.

After scoring the contest’s final goal at 6 minutes, 55 seconds of the third period, Guentzel was tripped up by Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot and crashed violently into the end boards, bending backward in an unmalleable fashion. As his teammates surrounded him out of concern and the goal horn was cut off prematurely, Guentzel was able to recover to his skates and quickly make his way to the Penguins bench. Hunched over and appearing to favor his right arm, Guentzel retreated to the dressing room and did not return for the remainder of the game.

Coach Mike Sullivan did not have an update on Guentzel’s status but suggested he might have more information Tuesday.

“It was really scary,” Sullivan said. “Those are always dangerous when you fall that distance from the boards.”

Sullivan had no objection to the contact by Chabot that led to Guentzel’s crash into the boards.

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

Guentzel’s importance to the Penguins is obvious. Through 39 games, he is the team’s leading scorer with 20 goals and 43 points. But his value goes beyond the base numbers for his teammates.

“He’s been huge,” defenseman John Marino said. “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.”

Guentzel was easy to notice early against Ottawa as he recorded the primary assist on forward Evgeni Malkin’s opening goal 27 seconds into the first period. It was Malkin’s 10th goal of the season.

Penguins forward Dominik Simon netted his second goal in three games and his fourth of the season at 11:44 of the first period to make it 2-0.

A goal by forward Nick Paul 4:21 into the second got the Senators on the scoreboard. But the Penguins responded at 6:02 of the second with another goal by Malkin thanks to assists from forward Bryan Rust and Guentzel.

The Senators made it 3-2 at 15:58 of the second thanks to another score by Paul, but, again, the Penguins volleyed back with a score by forward Patric Hornqvist, his seventh of the season, only 57 seconds later.

Guentzel’s tally got him to the 20-goal plateau for the third consecutive season.

The victory allowed the Penguins to cap December with 10-2-0 record despite ample injuries to key players such as captain Sidney Crosby as well as defensemen Brian Dumoulin and Justin Schultz.

They might enter January wondering how they will fare without their lone All-Star.

“We can do it,” said Hornqvist, perhaps the team’s most resolute soul. “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.”

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