Analysis: By his own admission, Penguins forward Jake Guentzel needs to produce more

Empty thoughts on the Penguins’ 4-0 loss to the Flames:

It’s become fashionable to joke that the Penguins have been dressing a lineup worthy of the American Hockey League (AHL) this season.

After all, there are a handful of players on the Penguins’ roster who have more career games in the AHL than the NHL like Drew O’Connor, Mark Friedman and even Teddy Blueger.

But this lineup isn’t completely bereft of high-end NHL-caliber talent. There are some first-round picks, 20-goal scorers and All-Stars still suiting up for the Penguins.

One of those players is Jake Guentzel.

No matter what he does for the remainder of his tenure with the Penguins, Guentzel will always have a prominent place in the franchise’s history due to his marvelous effort in helping win the 2017 Stanley Cup title.

And he’s supplemented that legacy by being a consistent 20-goal scorer. He even hit the 40-goal mark in 2018-19 then was selected as an All-Star in 2019-20.

He’s always carried a tag of being a product of Sidney Crosby, his usual center. But he’s found ways to produce away from Crosby. Granted, much of that non-Crosby success has been with another franchise icon in Evgeni Malkin. But the point remains, Guentzel is talented enough to produce when Crosby is not present.

Yet, it’s been a slog for him most of this season through all of seven games. After missing the first game of the season because of covid-19 concerns, he scored in his season debut Oct. 14 but has been held without a goal since then.

He’s had plenty of chances. Even with only six games, he is third on the team with 20 shots.

On Thursday, he generated seven shot attempts and put four on net. One came on a power-play opportunity in the first period. At the 16:01 mark, Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen — himself mired in a goalless slump through seven games — fed a sharp seam pass to Guentzel and from the right side of the cage, Guentzel looked like he had the net dead to rights. Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom read the sequence like a copy editor, maneuvered to his left and swallowed up the shot.

Guentzel looked despondent after the save.

His body language and tone might have been even gloomier during his postgame media availability.

“We have good players up and down the lineup,” Guentzel said. “We might be playing with different guys but you know how they play. We’ve just got to build chemistry right away. I’ve got to be better. I’ve just got to help as much as I can. I’ve got to start producing.”

Presumable, a potential return by Crosby in the next few days will cure a lot of what has ailed the Penguins the past two games.

There might not be anyone who will benefit more from his return than Guentzel.

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins dominated shots, 45-35.

• Flames forward Blake Coleman led the game with six shots.

• Friedman led the Penguins with five shots.

• Penguins defenseman John Marino led the game with 25:02 of ice time on 27 shifts.

• Defenseman Chris Tanev led the Flames with 21:55 of ice time on 30 shifts.

• Faceoffs were tied, 28-28 (50%).

• O’Connor was 6 for 10 (60%).

• Flames forward Elias Lindholm was 13 for 22 (59%).

• Marino as well as Flames defensemen Rasmus Andersson, Juuso Valimaki and forward Tyler Pitlick each led the game with three blocked shots.

Randomly speaking

• A lot of this came down to the Penguins’ power play being futile in the first period. After Coleman took a high sticking penalty at 12:15 of the first period, ex-Penguins defenseman Erik Gudbranson incurred a double minor for high sticking only 19 seconds later. That afforded the Penguins 1:41 of a five-on-three scenario. Overall, they had 4:19 of a continuous power-play chance.

To be clear, they did a great job of creating shots. They put seven on net off 13 attempts. The only problem was Markstrom who was really tuned in. In addition to robbing Guentzel, as mentioned above, he also denied forward Jason Zucker on a great chance at the 14:22 mark:

Even getting only one goal on that extended power-play chance would have meant the world for this limited lineup. Instead, they were blanked and it proved to be critical to this outcome.

• Overall, the Penguins played very well within their limitations. They had tons of legit scoring chances. There was one frantic scene just under five minutes into the second period where Zucker, Friedman, O’Connor and Kapanen were all denied in some fashion on wonderful opportunities.

• Give Markstrom credit. He’s a big body at 6-foot-6 but he didn’t just make saves because he takes up space. He was forced to move a good deal by the Penguins’ passing and was up to the challenge.

• The Penguins flipped Kapanen and Danton Heinen on the right wing positions of the first and second lines. Heinen skated with Guentzel and forward Evan Rodrigues while Kapanen was with Zucker and O’Connor. Both players ended up with four shots on net so there seemed to be some benefit to that maneuver.

• Marino learned a hard lesson from Flames star forward Johnny Gaudreau. Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin went deep with a puck on the left wing but lost control of it. Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk fed a pass to Gaudreau in the high slot. Marino made an ill-timed pinch and Gaudreau made him pay by poking the puck toward the neutral zone and chasing it down himself. Gaudreau raced in on net and fired a sizzling wrister past goaltender Casey DeSmith’s glove on the far side.

With Dumoulin in deep, Marino should have shown a little bit more restraint in that scenario.

• DeSmith was sturdy until things kind of caved in on him midway through the third period. Perhaps he could have stolen the third or fourth goals but the Penguins were taking some chances by that point in the game to get on the scoreboard.

• Attendance for this game received a healthy bump. It was listed at 17,743.

Tuesday’s game was listed as 15,732.

Capacity at PPG Paints Arena for hockey is 18,187.

Historically speaking

• The Flames had not shut out the Penguins in a long time. How long? Like the Flames were only in their second season in Calgary … long.

Before Thursday, the Flames’ most recent shut out of the Penguins was a 4-0 home win at the Stampede Corral — their previous home before moving into the Saddledome — on Jan. 17, 1982. One-time Penguins goaltender Pat Riggin made 29 saves in that triumph.

To put that in perspective, the Flames had been in Atlanta two years prior. During their Atlanta days, the Flames recorded two shutouts of the Penguins in the 1970s.

Visually speaking

• Game summary.

• Event summary.

• Highlights (so to speak):

Follow the Penguins all season long.