TRICKY TRICKY! BRYAN RUST SCORES HIS THIRD! (Last season’s crop of 30-goal men, incidentally, was the most since the 2005-06 post-lockout campaign in which an emphasis on power plays ballooned scoring.) In 2017-18, it was just 26 the year before that, 28.Īlthough a scoring renaissance led to 45 players reaching 30 goals last season, as recently as 2014-15 that number was sliced by two-thirds (15). As recently as two seasons ago, 32 players hit the 30-goal mark (almost exactly one per team, on average). Only 17 players (a tad bit more than, on average, one for every other NHL team) had reached 30 this season. Still, for a player known more for his skating than his hands, for his clutch scoring than his eye-popping numbers and for his penalty-killing more than power-play prowess, Rust was on the verge of joining some pretty select company. In the pantheon of misfortune associated with a pandemic, Rust’s missed milestone ranks low. Another scenario floated includes a handful of regular-season games before the intensity of the postseason starts. If the season resumes, it could jump immediately into the Stanley Cup playoffs.
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While no decisions have been made about the remainder of the NHL season, it seems increasingly unlikely teams will play their full allotment of 82 games. That’s a long way from the meager seven points he accounted for through Dec. #Penguins’ Bryan Rust now has a team-leading 22 goals and 45 points (second on the team). Just trying to see where this whole covid thing goes and the temporary stoppage of play, and if we get back to the season.” “I think for me personally, it’s been a really good year, and I’ve been taking it in stride one day at a time and I haven’t given that any thought. “I try not to think about it,” Rust said. A reporter asked whether he feels any extra frustration related to the seemingly lost chance to forever have the “30-goal guy” label affixed to his bio. The NHL suspended play March 12 out of concerns for the coronavirus pandemic.Īlmost a month later and on a day that was supposed to be the eve of the opening of the Stanley Cup playoffs, Rust found himself at his house staring into his phone during a video conference call. Little did anyone know that a week later the Penguins would play their final game in month or more, and it could have been the final game of their season. At that point, Rust was just three goals short of 30 with 17 games remaining in the season. During the Pittsburgh Penguins’ next game three days later, he established a personal best for goals.Įach occurred before the All-Star break, and Rust kept scoring at a pace not seen from the speedy, versatile forward since he broke into the NHL in late 2014.īy the time of his March 3 hat trick, Rust was well on his way to a 30-goal season. Sullivan said Zucker had a non-COVID illness but was expected to travel with the team to Detroit ahead of Saturday afternoon’s game against the Red Wings.Despite missing the first 11 games of the season because of a hand injury, Bryan Rust blew past his career high for points Jan. In my opinion, those are the best games Geno’s played this year.”Īnd that has nothing to do with Jason Zucker, who normally skates on the left side of the Malkin line, missing practice Friday. I think Rusty’s presence on that line certainly helps Geno five-on-five. I think Rusty brings a certain dimension to that line that helps Geno and whoever we have on the other flank with him be effective. “There have been times when he’s been really good, but I think his best games are where he’s been playing with Rusty. “I think (Malkin’s) play five-on-five has been sporadic,” Sullivan said after practice Friday at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex. But this is about Malkin – aka Geno - and Rust, who had been a regular on the top line before the Penguins began some experimenting.
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