PITTSBURGH — It's fair to criticize Jake Guentzel for his lack of production in the playoff series against the New York Islanders. He had 25 shots on net but produced just one goal for the Penguins in the six-game flameout. "I let a lot of people down," Guentzel said in his getaway Zoom interview.
It's even fair to criticize Evgeni Malkin's lack of goal-scoring against the Islanders. He had five points in the final four games but just one goal. You expect more from the Penguins' highest-paid player at $9.5 million.
But one thing no one can question is Guentzel's and Malkin's toughness.
It was off the charts against the Islanders.
In Malkin's case, that became more apparent Friday when the Penguins announced he had surgery on his right knee. This was no routine clean-up. The team said Malkin will miss the start of training camp in September, maybe the start of the season.
Malkin originally was injured when he banged knees with Boston's Jarred Tinordi during a game March 16. He missed the next 23 games — the team went 16-5-2 without him — before returning to the lineup for the final four regular-season games. He banged knees again with Buffalo's Dylan Cozens in the final game and had to miss the first two games against the Islanders. It wasn't just remarkable that he scored five points in that series. It was remarkable that he played at all.
Guentzel didn't have a serious injury, but the series-long beating he took from the Islanders would have stopped a lesser player. Somehow, he avoided trouble when he was tripped by goaltender Ilya Sorokin in Game 1 and crashed into the boards, bringing back bad memories of his major shoulder injury that required surgery after he banged into the boards during a game against Ottawa on Dec. 30, 2019. Guentzel then took a clean but vicious shot from defenseman Adam Peleck in Game 2. There was at least one big hit against him in every game, it seemed. Clearly, the Islanders' strategy was to manhandle Guentzel, a slightly built man. But he took the hits and kept on playing.
My respect for Malkin and Guentzel has never been greater.
They're hockey players in the truest sense.
I remember a conversation at a Penguins playoff game years ago with then-Pitt football coach Paul Chryst. I suggested that hockey players are the toughest people in sports and waited for Chryst to argue.
"You're absolutely right," he said. "They are the toughest."
The stories are legendary.
Perhaps most famously, Toronto's Bob Baun fractured his ankle early in Game 6 of the 1964 Stanley Cup final and came back to score the winning goal in overtime. That was back in the day when the Maple Leafs won Cups. Don't feel bad if you can't remember. No one else can, either.
My personal favorite is Rick Tocchet breaking his jaw in a Penguins game against Chicago in March 1992 and coming back to score the winning goal in overtime. He fought twice in later games that season, prompting coach Scotty Bowman to tell him he was crazy. "I told him I have to stand up for my guys," Tocchet said, shrugging.
Any number of players have pulled out loose teeth on the bench. Google Pascal Dupuis and watch him pull out two during a Penguins game in October 2013. I can't even begin to imagine the pain.
Then, there is the six-stitch rule that former Penguins winger and current broadcaster Bob Errey explained to me. Apparently, if a player was cut during a game and needed six or fewer stitches, he was sewed up without a pain-killer so he could return to the game as quickly as possible. Think of a fish hook going through your face six times. A pain-killer was OK if the cut required more than six stitches, even if that meant a longer delay before a return to the ice.
Hockey players, you gotta love 'em.
I repeat:
Malkin and Guentzel are hockey players.
Both Brian Burke and Ron Hextall have said there are no plans to break up the Penguins' "core," which means Malkin and Kris Letang are expected back next season. Burke said there has been no order from Mario Lemieux that the two players have to finish their career with the team. "Mario is leaving us alone," he said. "Whatever we do, we'll take the blame or we'll take the praise."
Guentzel's future seems a little more cloudy. There has been speculation the Penguins might move him this offseason to bring in a bigger, tougher player. "We're not ugly enough," Burke said.
It wasn't just Guentzel who took a beating against the Islanders. Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust also took a licking and combined for just four goals and seven points. At the other end of the ice, the Penguins weren't able to punish the Islanders in front of goaltender Tristan Jarry. "That's not what we do well," Burke acknowledged. "We don't have a team that's built on intimidation or aggression."
I'm OK with Malkin coming back even though he turns 35 next month and, like Letang, has just one year left on his contract. Why not take at least one more run with Malkin and Crosby? Burke said management will explore an extension with Malkin and Letang soon.
I hope Guentzel is back. I get the need for more ugly and I know you have to give up quality to get quality back. But I don't want to give up a 40-goal man, which Guentzel has been. He is one of the top goal-scorers in the NHL. I'll take my chances with him and Crosby continuing to play together.
I'll always take my chances with good hockey players.
