Guentzel gave the Bolts a 2-1 lead on the power play in the second period when he pounded in a rebound from the net front. It was his first goal in six games. Guentzel has 22 goals, 21 assists and 110 shots in 42 games on the season, and is on pace for another point-per-game season.

Guentzel notched two assists, four shots on goal and a plus-2 rating in Sunday's 5-2 win over the Penguins.

So far, Guentzel has been just that, and he has now made some Lightning history in the process. After recording a helper on Nikita Kucherov's second-period goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Guentzel became just the second Bolt in team history to record 20 goals and 20 assists in his first 40 games with the club.

The Pittsburgh Penguins (18-18-8) have been trending sideways since the NHL holiday break. They have just two wins in their last eight games, but they have maintained their hockey .500 standing by virtue of three loser points. They’ll face old friend Jake Guentzel and the difficult Tampa Bay Lightning (22-15-3) on Sunday at PPG Paints Arena.

It took everything they had to pull out two points, winning 4-3 as Andrei Vasilevskiy (34 saves) stopped all three Ducks shots in the shootout and Jake Guentzel scored what wound up being the winning goal in the first round.

Here are three reasons to like the Lightning’s new-look power play. Thursday’s moves were transformative, because the personnel and positional changes made it difficult to tell which was the top unit and which was the second. Point men Victor Hedman and Darren Raddysh switched units, with Brayden Point and Jake Guentzel matched with Raddysh.

Welcome to Evan’s mailbag, where each week Avalanche reporter Evan Rawal answers all your Avalanche- and hockey-related questions. Mailbag questions can be sent to.

The Tampa Bay Lightning edged the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 Thursday evening when Bolts forward Jake Guentzel scored the lone goal in sudden death. Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy turned away shots by Anaheim forward Mason McTavish and Ducks leading scorer Troy Terry in the shootout to allow Tampa Bay to win its 24th game of the season,

NHL analyst Edward Eng of FanSided believes the Toronto Maple Leafs should trade for Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby.

Malkin may not be directing as many pucks on net compared to previous campaigns, but he's still at 33 points in 42 games — including 10 on the power play — and skating his usual elevated minutes. And yet,

Artemi Panarin scored twice, Chris Kreider got the go-ahead goal with 9:38 left and the New York Rangers rallied for a 5-3 victory over the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday night. Reilly Smith tied it 3-all with a short-handed goal 28 seconds into the third period for the Rangers,