So long, Mario. Penguins' Jake Guentzel adds to historic playoff numbers
After Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist during Game 3 on Tuesday, the Penguins' official postgame notes package included a superlative that listed him among Hall of Famers Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Mario Lemieux.
After Thursday's game, the run he is on was statistically comparable with Gretzky and Messier.
Lemieux? Guentzel had usurped him.
Even Super Mario hasn't had a 10-game start to a postseason like Guentzel.
Neither has Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby nor Evgeni Malkin.
The skinny, boyish-looking 23-year-old Guentzel is hotter than any of them ever have been in a playoff run.
"I mean, just kind of feel like the bounces are going in right now," Guentzel said after scoring twice in a 3-1 Game 4 victory Thursday against the Washington Capitals.
"Just getting lucky with some of those plays in front of the net. The puck is finding me. Just got to try and be around it, and hopefully they keep coming."
Guentzel chuckled softly as his voice trailed off. He's putting up historical numbers in his second NHL postseason.
Before Guentzel, no NHL player in the past 30 years had posted as many as 20 points over his team's first 10 playoff games. Only seven men had done it in league history.
With 10 goals and 21 points in 10 games, Guentzel conceded Thursday he's in a zone the likes he never has experienced at any level. Of course it is: it's an unprecedented run for any Penguins player.
"He's doing unreal, you know?" said Dominik Simon, who played alongside Guentzel on Thursday. "He's dipping and shooting and making great plays. You can see he's feeling it, and hopefully he will keep feeling it the same way."
Guentzel made his NHL debut 17½ months ago and is in the midst of just his second postseason. However, only 33 active NHL players have more career playoff goals. Just six Penguins all-time do, and five of them are either in the Hall of Fame (Lemieux, Ron Francis) or assured of being there someday (Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin).
His 23 postseason goals have come in only 35 games. That's a .657 per-game pace that not only is the third-best in NHL history, but it also equates to an 82-game season total of 53 goals. No Penguins player has scored that many during a regular season in 22 years.
Isn't it supposed to be harder to score in the playoffs?
"He embraces the important moments," coach Mike Sullivan said. "He went on a similar run last year over the course of the playoffs, so it's not anything he hasn't done before. He's taken his game to another level once again."
Something about the postseason brings out the best in Guentzel. He has at least a point in eight consecutive playoff games — he never has had a regular-season point streak of more than five games.
Guentzel spent this past Christmas break — 37 games into this past regular season — at 21 points for the season. He has reached that total in 10 games during these playoffs. He has more goals in less than half a regular season's worth of games (35) than he had during 82 regular-season games in 2017-18.
"He's doing a great job. I don't think there's any denying that," Crosby said. "He works hard. He does a lot of good things with and without the puck. I think he cares more about the wins than the goals and assists."
Last week, Guentzel already had reached 20 career playoff goals faster than all but nine players in NHL history.
And after having a team-high 13 goals and 21 points as a rookie during the Penguins' run to their second Stanley Cup last season, Guentzel already has become just the seventh player in team history to have two 20-plus point postseasons.
"Last year (Guentzel) surprised me," defenseman Kris Letang said. "This year, I expect it, you know?"
Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at cadamski@tribweb.com or via Twitter @C_AdamskiTrib.
