Penguins forward Jake Guentzel reaches 40-goal mark again

Jake Guentzel doesn’t emote often. He is pretty straight-laced and largely keeps his thoughts to himself.

On the occasions he speaks with media, he adheres to a frugal economy of words.

But on Thursday, during a 4-0 home win against the Boston Bruins at PPG Paints Arena, Guentzel was quite expressive.

Twice.

First, after the Penguins’ net was dislodged in the second period and play was halted, Guentzel was minding his own business in the right circle of the defensive zone. Without any apparent provocation, Bruins forward Brad Marchand — blessed with all the charm of a canker sore — approached Guentzel and gave him a firm cross check to the left elbow.

Guentzel’s only response came in the form of a gleeful cackle over Marchand’s futile attempts to agitate him.

A few hours later, after Guentzel had completed a hat trick and reached the 40-goal mark for the second time in his career, Guentzel was more subdued when speaking at a postgame press conference. But it was very clear what he was feeling.

Pride.

At least that’s what the toothy grin he was flashing left one to assume.

“It’s a cool number,” Guentzel said. “You put a lot of time and effort into this game. Just to score goals in this league is pretty special. I’m fortunate enough to play alongside pretty good players and just have a good surrounding crew with coaches and teammates and staff. Just a cool milestone.”

Guentzel tied his career-best in goals. He previously scored 40 during the 2017-18 season. He probably would have reached that plateau a few more times had his 2019-20 season not been cut short by a devastating right shoulder injury (to say nothing of the pandemic that limited that season as well as the 2020-21 campaign).

Regardless of the figures, the consistency Guentzel has displayed in being able to find the net on a game-by-game basis has resonated with his coach.

“He’s quietly emerged as one of the superstars in the league,” Mike Sullivan said. “He’s one of the best goal-scorers in the league. And he shows it year in and year out. It’s a credit to his competitiveness. It’s a credit to his talent level. It’s a credit to how hard he works to keep his game at such a high level.

“He’s just a great hockey player. … He’s got a high hockey IQ. He’s ultra-competitive. For a guy that’s not physically imposing in any way — he’s just not overly big — he plays the game really big. He goes to the hard areas where you pay a price to get opportunities to score. He’s undeterred, and he’s relentless in those areas. He’s an elite player.

“He flies under the radar, I think, here in Pittsburgh. When you look at his body of work over the last handful of years, I just think he’s getting better and better.”

In terms of regular-season play, that axiom is sound.

But the postseason is another matter. After breaking a handful of postseason records in 2017 and 2018 — he scored 23 goals in 37 games in his first two career postseasons — Guentzel’s offense largely has dried up in each of the past three playoff appearances.

Over that span, he has scored only three goals in 16 games.

Probably not coincidentally, the Penguins have failed to win a playoff round in all three of those seasons.

With another postseason looming in less than two weeks, Guentzel is under no misconception as to what he’ll need to show.

“It’s hard in the playoffs,” Guentzel said. “You know you’ve got to find those different areas. You just don’t have much time out there. You can score as much as you want in the regular season but it’s a whole other game in the postseason.”

Seth Rorabaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Seth by email at srorabaugh@triblive.com or via Twitter .