No Rust for Bryan since returning to lineup
By
Michelle Crechiolo
Penguins Team Reporter
"We're going to keep bringing it up for the next couple days, or weeks," grinned Tom Kuhnhackl.
Rust was still laughing as well, especially considering the situation - him, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby on the ice together in the waning seconds of regulation, all three players trying to achieve something different. Malkin was also looking to complete a hat trick, while Crosby was searching for his 400th goal.
"I think Sid's such an unbelievable teammate, he knew the situation we were in, he knew he was going to have plenty more opportunities to get that 400th goal, obviously," Rust said. "There aren't too many opportunities for guys to get their hat tricks. He was trying to make the passes. It eventually went in."
It started with Crosby gave Rust a perfect feed on a 2-on-1, and the winger joked that as much as he is a team player, he certainly wasn't going to pass up the chance to put it on net.
"Oh, I wanted to shoot," Rust said. "Until I missed and then I realized my chance was up and I decided to pass to Geno."
It still ended up being a terrific performance from Rust, as he finished with two goals and an assist in just his third game back from an upper-body injury. Rust was hurt on Dec. 27 versus Columbus, and missed 11 contests.
Before going out of the lineup, Rust had scored just four goals in his first 38 games after scoring 15 in 57 last season, and admitted that he wasn't playing up to his standards nor producing as much as he would have liked.
"I was fighting it a little bit," he said. "Being hurt helped me reset and I found my game."
As he rehabbed, Rust focused on becoming a student of the game, trying to watch and learn as much as he could.
"When you're going through the day-to-day grind and things aren't going your way, it's hard to really focus on the things that make you better and trying to watch as much film or games as possible," he explained. "It's hard to get in that mindset. But being injured, you can watch the games from above, you can see what types of plays are open, how much time and space you have in certain situations."
Rust also gave a lot of credit to Ty Hennes, the skills coach who spends a lot of time working with injured players. Though Rust joked that things could get especially boring when the team was on the road - "It was just (Carter Rowney) and I and it was cold, dark and really quiet in here" - Hennes has the kind of energetic, upbeat personality that helps bring out the best in guys.
"I think Ty gives guys a lot of confidence," Rust said. "He definitely makes things a lot easier for the guys who are injured because he's always out there, he's always upbeat, he's always making drills fun, he's doing stuff that everyone knows will make you better that are also fun."
Once Rust rejoined the lineup on Jan. 23 against Carolina, he reunited with Kuhnhackl and Jean-Sebastien Dea - two players he's familiar with - and was immediately noticeable with his speed. Kuhnhackl chipped a puck to Rust, who scooped it up and raced into the offensive zone on a 2-on-1 with Dea, sliding it over for the rookie's first career goal.
"I like playing with him," Kuhnhackl said. "If you don't have a play or whatever, you can just chip it because his speed is always going to get the puck for you."
Rust has only built on that since. Not only is he producing; he's continued undertaking a bigger role on the penalty kill that started at the beginning of this year with the departure of players like Nick Bonino and Matt Cullen. It's something Rust has been preparing for ever since he entered the league, sitting in on PK meetings his first couple of years.
"It's something that I knew was part of my game, it's something that I knew I had to pay attention to because I knew I was going to try to evolve into one of those players," he said. "It's something that I did a lot in the past, I was always one of those guys in college and in the American League. It's just the speed is a little bit higher up here, the tempo is a little bit higher. I think you've got to learn a little bit more when it comes to the penalty kill. The coaches did a really good job of kind of phasing me in over my first year or so here, then this year, they've really trusted me in that situation."
Head coach Mike Sullivan really trusts Rust in allsituations, lauding his two-way ability and versatility.
"We can utilize him in so many situations," he said. "I've used him all over the lineup since we've been here. He kills penalties, I can use him on the power play if we choose. He brings a ton of speed to our team, his puck pursuit game is really good, he's got good defensive awareness, he's good along the wall.
"I'm hoping scoring two goals (on Tuesday) certainly should be a big boost of confidence moving forward and hopefully he can continue to help us offensively because he's very capable, as he's shown over the last couple years."
Rust confirmed that his confidence has indeed gotten a big boost - even if his teammates won't let him forget about that missed third goal.
"I tried to keep things simple at the start and take it one game at a time," he said. "As time goes on, try to get a little bit more confidence and try to make a few more plays."
