Penguins forward Jake Guentzel sidelined on a 'week-to-week' basis

Penguins forward Jake Guentzel will be sidelined on a “week-to-week” basis because of an undisclosed injury.

Coach Mike Sullivan announced Guentzel’s status following practice in Cranberry on Wednesday. The injury was labled as “upper body” but no specifics were offered.

During Monday’s 6-1 road win against the Seattle Kraken, Guentzel appeared to be in discomfort after blocking a shot with the right hand portion of his upper body at 14:58 of the first period:

Guentzel returned to the game and scored two goals later in the contest.

The team’s leading scorer, Guentzel has been one of the NHL’s better players as of late with points in his past 13 consecutive games. In his past two games, Guentzel has seven points (five goals, two assists).

In 24 games this season, Guentzel has 27 points (15 goals, 12 assists).

Guentzel was one of three players absent from practice Wednesday.

Forward Jason Zucker did not participate for what was termed as a maintenance day while forward Bryan Rust continues to be sidelined for an undisclosed ailment.

One notable attendee was forward Evgeni Malkin who participated in a non-contact fashion. Malkin has been sidelined all season as he recovers from offseason surgery to his right knee. He has joined the team for practices and morning skates for the past week-plus.

The team’s lines and pairs during Wednesday’s practice were:

9 Evan Rodrigues - 87 Sidney Crosby - 42 Kasperi Kapanen

10 Drew O’Connor - 77 Jeff Carter - 43 Danton Heinen

12 Zach Aston-Reese - 53 Teddy Blueger - 23 Brock McGinn

49 Domink Simon - 11 Brian Boyle - 18 Sam Lafferty

8 Brian Dumoulin - 58 Kris Letang

28 Marcus Pettersson - 6 John Marino

5 Mike Matheson - 2 Chad Ruhwedel

The top power-play group included Carter, Crosby, Letang, Rodrigues and Simon. The second power-play group involved Heinen, Kapanen, Marino, Matheson and O’Connor.

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