Tuesday night’s game featuring the Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins offered a lot in the entertainment department.
It was Jake Guentzel’s first game back in Pittsburgh since the trade that sent him to Carolina. Guentzel, a fan favorite and Stanley Cup winner in 2017 with the team, traveled to PPG Paints Arena as a visitor for the first time.
It was a night that was thought to be about him. The Penguins played a tribute video for him, to which he received a standing ovation afterwards, and No. 59 jerseys still filled the upper and lower bowls.
But Jake Guentzel was far from the only ex seeing their old team last night. The Penguins, who featured three ex-Hurricanes in the lineup last night, were powered by an electrifying performance by Jesse Puljujärvi, who by far played his best game of the season.
After struggling to get back into the lineup, the mid-season free agent signing drew back into the fold on Saturday in Colorado. Puljujärvi scored a goal in that game, and along with some other good work, he forced his way into staying in the lineup when the team returned home.
Puljujärvi rewarded them greatly. He looked like a whole new player last night, and looked a lot more like the player Kyle Dubas envisioned he could be when he signed him.
He scored the team’s opening goal on a beautiful snipe past Carolina’s Pyotr Kochetkov.
I must give Ryan Graves credit here. He has been much maligned this season (rightfully so) but I thought he was decent last night, and his defensive work on this play is the whole reason the Penguins got this chance in the first place.
Lars Eller than throws a pass back to an oncoming Puljujärvi, who fires a wicked shot into the net.
Puljujärvi was a +1 last night, with a goal and 3 shots. Him and his big smile were named the second star of the game. But more than just that, he provided a physical aspect we have not yet seen from him.
He threw 3 hits last night, and did not back down when he received some pushback from the Canes.
This is the kind of player the Penguins needed Puljujärvi to be, and as he continues to get back into form from double hip surgery in the offseason, he’s closer than ever before to solidifying a role in the Penguins’ bottom six.
He stole the show against a team he played for last season. Pete Blackburn put it best: “So much talk about the Jake Guentzel revenge game and not enough talk about the Jesse Puljujärvi revenge game”
Puljujärvi wasn’t a Hurricane for long, but he did suit up in 17 games for them last season. He wound up in Carolina after his draft team, the Edmonton Oilers, traded him in exchange for low-level prospect Patrik Puistola.
Puljujärvi put up 2 assists in his time in Carolina, and 1 extra assist in 7 playoff games. On an expiring contract, the Hurricanes opted not to re-sign him, and Puljujarvi would go on to have that double hip surgery which carried a major recovery time.
Now, at 25, the former fourth overall pick might have a way to carve out a role for himself here in Pittsburgh.
Next season will be the real test for Puljujärvi. This upcoming offseason will provide him a chance to rest and reset, sans surgery, and ideally he can come back in 2024-25 and play a lot like he did last night.
He’s under contract for one more year beyond this one with the Penguins, at a cap hit of $800K.
(Featured photo by Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images)
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