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PENGUINS – HURRICANES WHAT WE LEARNED

The Penguins were out attempted 87 to 43 in Tuesday’s 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, including a minus-43 mark (76/33) at 5 vs 5. Pittsburgh was minus-19 (33/14) at 5 vs 5 in scoring chances, yet, it ended up being a night of quite a few positives playing out on the Penguins end in the 4-1 victory:

Among Them:

–Surprise, Surprise, the Penguins defended really well in the third period……………………

—Alex Nedeljkovic was a brick wall. He’s had moments this season where he’s really zoned in early on and can’t sustain it over course of the game. That wasn’t the case Tuesday night where from start to finish he was reading shooters and tracking the puck extremely well. A strong 38 save performance where he’s going to earn more starts as the coaching staff is said to be frustrated with To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

—Jesse Puljujarvi who the coaching staff had showed their hand of how they truly think of him (they’re not big fans) had his second straight game with a goal, blistering a shot from the right circle past Pyotr Kochetkov. Most intriguing, though, for longer-term prospects of what Puljujarvi may be able to bring to the table in a bottom-line role was how well he excelled vs a very good opponent with his wall play and bringing a heavy game below the dots, using his size and long wingspan well on the forecheck. “He’s playing the best hockey since we’ve gotten him the last couple of games since we reinserted him into the lineup. Hopefully, he can build on it,” Mike Sullivan said of Puljujarvi. Known for his defensive acumen, Puljujarvi saw his most ice time of the game in the third period, seeing 8 shifts, 5:08 even strength ice time. He averaged 3:22 a period through first two periods.

— Jonathan Gruden was a favorite of the previous regime late last season where they felt he was ready for a full-time NHL role in 23/24. He was certainly not helped with the GM change. Gruden was majorly overlooked coming into this season and was given no consideration from the new regime. Was that a mistake? Gruden isn’t moving the needle but has that youth energy/grit element of being a much more useful 12th/13th type than Jansen Harkins or even Matt Nieto was. Players in the room like what he brings to the table and there was a lot of praise after Tuesday’s game of some youth in the lineup with likes of Gruden, Sam Poulin…….

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Guentzel Return Chatter & More Buzz

Jake Guentzel vs Penguins | 0 Points, 6 SOG, 21:06 TOI

Guentzel went pointless in his return to Pittsburgh, but the metrics were something else. Guentzel was on the ice for 36 shot attempts and just 8 against, posting an 82 CF% at 5 vs 5; More phenomenal #’s………

90 SCF%, on the ice for 19 Scoring Chances For, 2 Against; High Danger Chances with Guentzel on the ice, Carolina was 7-0.

The Guentzel-Aho-Jarvis Line was a possession monster and was 15-1 in Scoring Chances when on the ice together:

Carolina team officials and the coaching staff have marveled that they knew they were getting a pretty good player but even they might have underestimated from the outside how elite Guentzel is with the little things on the ice.

“He’s probably a better player than I probably even thought To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Guentzel created a stir with the Penguins fan base by declaring last night it was his intention to stay.

“My intention was to stay, but they just thought there was a better direction to go a different way. It’s out of my hands. It’s not my choice,” Guentzel said after Tuesday’s game.”

Some have immediately tried to spin it as ‘yeah you wanted to stay on your terms’ and so on.

I’m lean Guentzel on this one and have been for a while in that all indications have been the Penguins never made a good faith effort to try to resign Guentzel and information coming out of the Guentzel camp is said to be 100% correct that Pittsburgh never even made an ‘official offer’ since Guentzel became extension eligible on July 1. Other than very preliminary conceptual talks in the fall, there was just never any substantive talks for whatever reason. That led to a ton of hurt feelings and has stunned quite a few inside and outside of the Penguins organization as it’s believed the Guentzel camp was not 100% locked in on an eight-year term. They were said to have been willing to discuss lower term, but Pittsburgh never came to the table which made the situation even more frustrating and upsetting from their end, sources say…….

The million-dollar question has been what are the chances of Pittsburgh trying to repair the relationship on July 1 if Guentzel hits the market?

If and I mean a big if,……if Guentzel’s market on July 1 started settling in that To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

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MORE BUZZ

— Not a usual sight, Sidney Crosby [hide] was visibly frustrated when taken off the power play with a 1:10 left on the man-advantage and made Mike Sullivan know about it……..Emil Bemstrom a healthy scratch Tuesday had seen his game take a nose-dive for the most part since the initial adrenaline rush of getting traded to a new team wore off. He will be no guarantee to get an RFA tender to retain rights………….Penguin coaches shortened the bench in third period. Valtteri Puustinen played just three shifts in the third period as he saw his ice time diminish with Puljujarvi getting bumped up in the third. Pittsburgh basically went with three lines in the final frame. [/hide]