Jake Guentzel is on fire for the Pittsburgh Penguins

Every team needs to score goals. Sometimes, a team may get lucky and acquire somebody with a natural-born ability to put the puck in the net. With the Pittsburgh Penguins, that player is Jake Guentzel. Lately, he’s been absolutely stunning for the Penguins. However, he can’t do it all on his own as the offense has seemingly struggled in the past few games.

Guentzel’s Career So Far

Guentzel was drafted 77th overall in the 2013 NHL entry draft. After that, he spent three season at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, and finally signed an entry-level contract May 23, 2016. Surprisingly, he made his debut only six short months after signing that contract. Guentzel was quick to make an impression as he scored two goals against the New York Rangers.

Image Courtesy of Getty Images

His playoff performance that year was astonishing. As a rookie, Guentzel was looking as comfortable as any seasoned veteran. He would end up racking 21 points, leading all scorers with 13 goals. He was arguably the greatest addition to the team that contributed toward Pittsburgh’s second consecutive Stanley Cup victory. When he was drafted, nobody expected this kind of impact.

Now, Guentzel is the most consistent offensive forward on the Penguins roster. He is currently carrying an 11 game point streak, and is nearly the only player on the roster with a point-per-game. That brings in the counterpoint, however. While he is playing at an astounding level, Guentzel simply can’t do it all on his own as he needs help on the offense.

Struggling Offense

As aforementioned, every team needs to score goals. When an offense is struggling, it’s hard to do so. While the Penguins had an amazing few games, they are seemingly regressing to how they played at the beginning of the season. Currently nursing a three game losing streak, Pittsburgh needs to shake some things up and get back on track.

Image Courtesy of Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire

Sidney Crosby hasn’t had the impact people expected, but it’s unfair to expect that form his after coming back from COVID and a surgery. That being said, other forwards, especially Jason Zucker, needs to kick it into high-gear and start scoring goals. Guentzel can’t be expected to be the only scoring threat, otherwise he’s going to be covered 24/7 by the opposition’s defense.

If head coach Mike Sullivan needs to shake up the lines, then so be it. All that truly needs to happen is the offense needs to pose as more of a scoring threat. After all, it is hard to win games when you can’t score more than the opposition. If the Penguins don’t get their heads back in the game, fans could see some interesting line combinations to shake things up.

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