Steel City sports fans can be forgiven for wondering if the city is infringing on some ancient Native American burial ground.
The Pirates’ pitching staff was shredded by injuries last summer. The Steelers lost star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and played huge chunks of the season without James Connor and JuJu Smith-Schuster to name a few.
Saving its worst for last, the injury curse has claimed a slew of black-and-gold skaters such as Sidney Crosby, Nick Bjugstad, Brian Dumoulin, Patric Hornqvist, Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin and Justin Schultz to the tune of 139 man-games lost through the Christmas break.
Add Jake Guentzel to the list.
The Pens’ leading scorer had just notched his 20th goal of the season and 200th career NHL point on Monday night when he tripped over the stick of Ottawa defenseman Thomas Chabot, sending him head-long into the end boards. Jake was favoring his right shoulder, which took the brunt of the impact, as he peeled himself off the ice and hobbled down the runway to the dressing room.
Although his goal staked the Pens to a 5-2 lead and provided the ultimate margin of victory, a hush instantly fell over the 18,653 patrons in attendance at PPG Paints Arena.
Unfortunately, their trepidation was well-founded. The high-flying winger underwent immediate surgery and will be lost for the season.
Let’s hope the Pens’ Cup hopes didn’t go with him.
To say the Nebraska native was having an extraordinary season was putting it mildly. Proving to be more than just a sidecar to Crosby a la Robbie Brown to Mario Lemieux, No. 59 boldly took charge in Sid’s absence. Over his past 20 games, he piled up 12 goals and 29 points while teaming with Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust on a dynamic new top line. For the season, he’d racked up 20 goals and 43 points in 39 games.
That’s a ton of production to replace, to say nothing of Jake’s durability. Despite his smallish 5’11” 180-pound frame and penchant for venturing into the dirty areas, he hadn’t missed a game since his rookie season back in 2016-17.
Needless to say, the Pens “next man up” philosophy will be severely put to the test.
If there’s a silver lining hidden in the cloud looming over the ‘Burgh, the next man up may well be Crosby, who practiced today and is slated to return soon following core muscle surgery. But even Sid at the top of his game will be hard-pressed to match Guentzel’s pluck and productivity.
It’ll be a challenge to say the least for coach Mike Sullivan and his staff to reconfigure the lines. It wouldn’t shock me to see Jared McCann shift from center to right wing on Sid’s flank, although Hornqvist could move up, too. It’s hard to imagine Sully splitting up the Malkin-Rust combo, which has been positively torrid. I’d look for Alex Galchenyuk to fill Guentzel’s spot for now.
No small task.
“He’s one of our best players and such a good guy to have in the room,” said rookie forward Sam Lafferty. “He’s a guy you can’t replace. It’s pretty brutal.”
Dial M for Malkin
Guentzel’s injury overshadowed another three-point night for Malkin…the big center’s second in a row.
“Geno” opened the scoring with a rapier-like wrister from the left circle 27 seconds in. At 6:02 of the second period he ripped home a beautiful Rust feed from the opposite circle for what proved to be the game-winner.
Although Malkin’s 38 points don’t stack up with the league leaders because of time on the IR, the rangy Russian’s third in the league in points per game (1.46), just behind Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
Pretty select company.
He’s been a force night-in-and-night-out at both ends of the ice (plus-14). His leadership and decision-making have been exemplary. All the while flashing the form that earned him two Art Ross Trophies and a Hart Trophy.
Best of all, he’s proving he has plenty of juice left in those 33-year-old legs. A welcome development on the heels of last season’s disappointing performance.
