Pens rookie Guentzel has become postseason big shot
KEVIN ALLEN
As both a father and long-time hockey coach, Mike Guentzel has always felt compelled to prod his son Jake about the strength of his shot.
“I say, ‘Show me you can shoot the puck,’ ” Mike said. “I give him a hard time all the time, (don’t just) score one off your stick, deflection, or shin pad. Show me you can shoot one in.”
Pittsburgh Penguins rookie Jake Guentzel, 22, has proven this postseason to his dad, and everyone in the hockey world, that he can rip a shot into the net and score in a variety of other ways.
Heading into Saturday’s Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, Guentzel is the leading playoff scorer with 12 goals (on 42 shots) in 21 games. He has tallied the game-winners in each of the first two games to help the Penguins take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven final against the Nashville Predators.
“If you saw this coming, you’ve got a super crystal ball,” his Nebraska-Omaha college coach Dean Blais told USA TODAY Sports.
It’s not that people didn’t have faith in Guentzel’s pro potential. But no one, including the Penguins, expected him to have this level of impact this fast.
“It’s crazy,” Jake Guentzel said. “You can’t even put into words what it feels like.”
Guentzel was a 5-10, 153-pound center for the United States Hockey League’s Sioux City Musketeers when the Penguins drafted him in the third round in 2013.
This year he could become the first rookie to finish as the leading NHL playoff goal scorer. He’s three goals ahead of everyone else. He’s only two goals short of Dino Ciccarelli’s rookie record of 14 playoff goals.
“If this keeps up, he could be the Conn Smythe Trophy winner,” Blais said.
If Guentzel did that, he would become the first non-goalie rookie to win the award.
One reason why Guentzel, now 5-11, 185 pounds, has enjoyed instant success is that he has improved his shot and the quickness of his release. Guentzel also had 16 goals in 40 regular season games.
“Jake is a pass-first guy,” Blais said. “I’m sure Sidney told him when you get the shot take it, this is not a league for over passing. We are not the Russians of the old days.”
Blais said he used to tell Guentzel often in practice, “When the shot is there, you have to take it. You have to be able to score from 15-20 feet. Great players do that.”
In Game 1 of the final, Guentzel whistled a game-winner over Pekka Rinne from about 22 feet.
“He has acquired that release in the last couple of years,” Mike Guentzel said. “It has coincided with his strength development.”
What makes Guentzel’s goal total more impressive is that in these playoffs he has endured an eight-game goal slump. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan at one point considered making him a healthy scratch.
Instead, Sullivan sat him down for a talk, and Guentzel responded with three goals in his first two games in the final.
“If he just plays the game the right way, winning puck battles … taking what the game gives you, his instincts will take over,” Sullivan said.
Because this is Guentzel’s first professional season, he’s still adjusting to the longer, more demanding NHL schedule. Sullivan explains Guentzel’s latest surge as “getting a bit of a second wind.”
Guentzel is back on the Penguins’ top line with Sidney Crosby.
“He’s really smart.” Crosby said. “He’s got really good hockey sense.”
Blais calls Guentzel’s hockey sense “world class.”
“He has always been able to think his way around the ice, like Crosby, (Wayne) Gretzky, Zach Parise,” Blais said.
Guentzel grew up in a hockey family. Mike Guentzel is an associate coach at the University of Minnesota. His older brother, Gabe, played in the German League this season, and another brother, Ryan, played at Notre Dame and then briefly in Europe a few years back.