DENVER — The Pittsburgh Penguins are approaching two weeks without All-Star forward Jake Guentzel, who likely is out for the season after surgery on his right shoulder following a violent crash into the boards during a Dec. 30 victory over Ottawa.

In the aftermath of the Penguins being down their leading scorer (20 goals, 23 assists in 39 games played) and regular left wing next to Evgeni Malkin on the first line, coach Mike Sullivan doubtless has worked to find an in-house solution to fill the offensive hole left in Guentzel’s absence.

With general manager Jim Rutherford steadily exploring trade options on that note, Sullivan since Dec. 30 has run some experiments to determine the Penguins’ best option beside Malkin and Bryan Rust.

On Jan. 2 at home against the San Jose Sharks, the Penguins’ first game after Guentzel’s injury, Sullivan inserted Alex Galchenyuk on the Malkin line. Galchenyuk and Rust assisted on Patric Hornqvist’s tying goal in the second period, but the Penguins lost 3-2 in overtime.

Two days later in Montreal, Sullivan stuck with Galchenyuk on the first line to start the game. However, by the third period, Sullivan made a change. He moved Dominik Kahun from the fourth line with Joseph Blandisi and Thomas Di Pauli all the way up to Malkin’s line.

The switch paid off. With just less than 15 minutes left in regulation, Kahun had a key feed to Jack Johnson off the boards in the offensive zone.

Johnson’s ensuing shot from the blue line near the Canadiens’ bench was deflected left of the goal, only to ricochet to the stick of the waiting Rust, who put the puck in the net and tied the score 2-2.

Brandon Tanev won the game for the Penguins in overtime.

Sullivan stuck with Kahun opposite Malkin and Rust in the Penguins’ 4-1 loss to Florida on Jan. 5, and although not much showed up on the stat sheet — as with the majority of the team — Kahun’s 19 minutes, 55 seconds on ice was the most of all Penguins forwards except Rust.

For Sullivan, figuring out how best to bolster Malkin and Rust, who are the Penguins’ second- and third-leading point scorers, has been a priority since Guentzel went down.

And based on the quickness with which Galchenyuk was yanked in favor of Kahun, expect whoever skates with Malkin and Rust to conduct nightly performance-based job interviews to stay there.

“That’s a line that really has the ability to score, so we’re trying to accomplish a number of different things,” Sullivan said. “We’ve got a number of different options to move people around.”

When the Penguins and Avalanche faced off Friday at Pepsi Center in Denver, Kahun once again was on the first line.

Kahun gave Sullivan a reason to be confident in him with a multi-point performance Tuesday against the Golden Knights.

Malkin scored first, netting a goal less than three minutes into the first period, with Kahun and Rust notching assists. Having established some quick camaraderie with Malkin and Rust, Kahun seems to be enjoying every second of it.

“It’s a huge opportunity,” he said. “I love to play with those guys. They make it easy for me if I’m playing good. I think we had a great third period in Montreal, and then on Saturday (against Florida), I moved to the first line. Last game (at Vegas) we scored, also, so yeah, it’s been good.”

Later in the second period Tuesday night in Las Vegas, Kahun beefed up his special-teams credentials, scoring a power-play goal with five seconds left on the man-advantage.

John Marino sent a pass across the center of the ice that Kahun stopped before scoring on a backhand shot.

Heading into Friday night’s game at Colorado, Kahun is one of seven Penguins with double-digit goals and ranks sixth on the team in scoring (10 goals, 13 assists) in 42 games played.

His goal moving forward, regardless of where he finds himself in the lineup?

“I just want to keep winning — that’s the most important (thing) — play well and get goals,” he said.

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