Jake Guentzel did not practice on Wednesday after the team's travel day on Tuesday following their 6-1 win over Seattle on Monday, and head coach Mike Sullivan said the winger will be week-to-week with an upper-body injury.
Guentzel Week-to-Week with Upper-Body Injury
"It's next man up, as we have had for a few years now," defenseman Marcus Pettersson said. "It's going to be no different. New guys got to step up, and new opportunities for guys."
The injury wasn't specified, but Guentzel did take a shot off the hand from Seattle defenseman Adam Larsson in the first period of their matchup with the Kraken. Guentzel went right to the Penguins locker room and stayed there briefly before returning for the remainder of the game, where the 27-year-old scored twice to finish with a three-point night.
Injuries are always tough, but the timing of this one is especially difficult considering that Guentzel had been playing arguably the best hockey of his career. Coming out of Monday's victory, Guentzel had extended the NHL's longest-active point streak to 13 games, collecting 11 goals, seven assists and 18 points over that span. It's the league's third-longest this season behind Edmonton's Connor McDavid (17 games) and Anaheim's Troy Terry (16 games).
He also established a new Penguins franchise record for the longest season-opening road point streak with 11 goals and 18 points in 12 games played, surpassing the previous mark set by Evgeni Malkin in 2008-09 (11 games).
And after recording just one goal in his first seven games, Guentzel now leads the Penguins with 15 goals in 24 games.
"Those are pretty big shoes to fill, obviously," forward Kasperi Kapanen said. "Jake's been one of our best players, if not our best player, for a long period now."
Kapanen slotted into Guentzel's spot on the top line during rushes, and with Bryan Rust (lower-body, week-to-week) out as well, getting a chance to play alongside Sidney Crosby may be what the 24-year-old winger needs to find his game.
"The opportunity presents when guys aren't in the lineup. That's unfortunate," Kapanen said. "You want them to play. But I just got to step up my game."
Kapanen said the goal will be to try and get Crosby and Evan Rodrigues the puck as much as possible, as that line had been playing some terrific hockey overall as of late. And Sullivan said it will be important for Kapanen, who has five goals in 25 games - with three coming in one night on Nov. 6 vs. Minnesota - to get back to basics.
"My advice to a player is always, when they go through struggles, is to simplify his game," Sullivan said. "Use his speed. Shoot the puck. Go to the net. Take some of the thinking out of it, and I think his game will evolve from there. I just think if Kappy simplifies his game, he's a valuable player for us. He's a talented guy. He's had games where he's played extremely well for us. We just need a little bit more consistency."
Jason Zucker had a maintenance day and did not skate. Evgeni Malkin participated in a non-contact fashion. Here is the workflow the Penguins used…
Rodrigues-Crosby-Kapanen
O'Connor-Carter-Heinen
Aston-Reese--Blueger-McGinn
Simon-Boyle-Lafferty
(Malkin filled in on the fourth line for a few reps).
Dumoulin-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Matheson-Ruhwedel
