Tim Benz: Penguins' Jake Guentzel goes from question to constant in exactly 1 year

At this time last year, Jake Guentzel wasn’t a constant. He was a question. A big one.

A year ago to this day, I wrote about how crucial it was for Guentzel to snap out of a massive slump and start scoring again to give the Penguins any hope in the playoffs.

He hasn’t stopped scoring since.

At the time, Guentzel had just two goals in his final 19 regular season games.

But once the playoffs started, he scored in Game 1. Then he scored nine more times over the next 11 games before Washington eliminated the Penguins.

No, no. Please. No need for thanks. I’m just here to help.

Actually, you are probably best served to thank Penguins coach Mike Sullivan instead. Words that he spoke then regarding Guentzel may have been heard by the then-23-year-old winger.

“If he just focuses on the details of the game, then his talent will take over, and his instincts will take over,” the Penguins head coach said a year ago. “It’s about wall play. It’s about decisions with the puck. It’s puck support. It’s staying on the right side of puck battles. It’s going to the net when our points have the puck and have an opportunity.”

In other words, all the hard work that leads up to scoring goals may have faded from Guentzel’s game during that slump.

But message given, message received from Sullivan to Guentzel. As Guentzel recalled Monday, the instruction Sullivan gave him heading into the playoffs last year was similar to what he told the media.

“I was trying to keep it simple and play confident,” Guentzel said. “I wanted to be more consistent. Be around the net in the playoffs. That’s where a lot of the goals are scored. Be in front of the net and create some havoc. Simplify my game.”

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Maybe scoring just came too easily for Guentzel when he first burst onto the scene in 2016-17. Netting a pair in your debut at Madison Square Garden may have that effect. So might 16 goals in your first 40 NHL games. Or 13 goals in your first NHL postseason en route to a Stanley Cup. Sullivan’s reminder of the grit needed to get those points in the first place may have been the wake-up call Guentzel needed.

At precisely the right time.

“I think it’s sound advice for any player — or team — to have success,” Sullivan said Monday. “I think Jake exemplifies those attributes. And that’s why he had success all year long for us. Instinctively, he has those elements in his overall game.”

Guentzel bridged that positive postseason performance into this season, with 40 goals and 76 points in 82 games. If that’s a harbinger of things to come for the Penguins, then the rest of the Eastern Conference better be wary of Guentzel in these playoffs, too. Because his scoring rate usually jumps when the postseason hits.

Guentzel averages .77 points per game in the regular season. That rate jumps to 1.14 in the playoffs.

“Execution is what it comes down to in the playoffs,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. “You are not going to get a ton of chances. And he was really good when he got them. You have to be able to score in different ways. Whether it is deflections or rebounds in front of the net. That’s something he does well. That plays to his strengths.”

Well, if Sullivan’s prodding about what it takes to score in the playoffs aided Guentzel a year ago — above and beyond our column’s uncanny karma — let’s hope he had a similar conversation recently with Evgeni Malkin.

And Phil Kessel.

And Patric Hornqvist.

Because based on their relative goal-scoring struggles this year, they may also need the reminder.