Jack Eichel might be part of the reason that the Crosby and Malkin-less Penguins went five games before marking a regulation loss in 2021-22.
Why? It all goes back to the 2014-15 Boston University men’s hockey season, when Eichel and current Penguins forward Evan Rodrigues powered the squad to the 2015 NCAA finals.
In 2014-15, Evan Rodrigues was a senior at Boston University. After recording 34 points in his first college season and 14 in his next, he racked up more than both those years combined during his explosive 61-point senior campaign— in large part thanks to coach David Quinn’s midseason discovery that soft-handed Rodrigues excelled alongside budding star Jack Eichel.