Penguins move on without Guentzel, host Sharks

The Pittsburgh Penguins host the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, two days after both teams took a big hit, albeit in different ways.

The Penguins lost leading scorer Jake Guentzel for at least the rest of the regular season after he had surgery on his right shoulder Tuesday morning.

That night, the Sharks lost 2-0 at Detroit and missed a chance to climb out of the cellar in the Western Conference.

For Pittsburgh, the Guentzel loss was the latest in a long string of discouraging injury news and among the most impactful. Guentzel got hurt Monday when he crashed into the end board on the same play he scored his 20th goal of the season and 200th point of his career.

"He's quietly become one of the elite players in the league," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "I know his teammates, his coaching staff, his management team all appreciate what he brings to the team."

Guentzel's absence ensures Pittsburgh will play less than one full game this season with a fully healthy lineup -- that was Nov. 2 when Evgeni Malkin returned from injury but Patric Hornqvist then got hurt.

Guentzel had been part of a highly productive top line with Malkin and Bryan Rust since Guentzel's regular center, team captain Sidney Crosby, had core muscle surgery Nov. 14. Against San Jose, it appears Alex Galchenyuk will take Guentzel's place on that line.

"The coaches will sit down. We'll figure out game to game what we think gives us the best chance to win," Sullivan said. "I think that's how we have to approach it."

Crosby skated with his teammates Tuesday for the first time since his surgery, giving some short-lived hope he might return Thursday, but he was held without contact saying it was a matter of limited ice availability. By Wednesday, he was back to skating on his own with no timetable for his return.

Pittsburgh has ridden out the big wave of injuries staunchly. The Penguins were 10-2-0 in December, have won three straight games and will be looking for their league-leading 17th home win Thursday.

San Jose, conversely, was 2-9-2 in December, went through a coaching change and has scored two or fewer goals in five of its past six games.

"We've got to bear down (offensively)," Sharks forward Logan Couture said, adding that going to Pittsburgh will be "a tough game. (It's) a team that's got a lot of injuries that's playing extremely hard and winning games. They're going to come out hard and it's going to be a test."

A test for a team that, interim coach Bob Boughner admitted, is struggling to find its confidence.

"I don't think it's great," he said of the team confidence level. "I think we've been in a lot of these tight games where we're looking for offense. If you look at the (past) five, six games, excluding (a 6-1 win Saturday against) Philadelphia, we're always scoring one, two a night. That margin for error is so small. ... We've got to figure out how to generate offensively here. We've got to get on board."

--Field Level Media