Bryan Rust has never been shooting quite this well at any other point in his NHL career.
Rust scored twice in the Penguins' 5-4 shootout win over the Kings on Saturday night at PPG Paints arena, tying the game in the second period after the Penguins fell into a 2-0 hole in the first.
Rust's first goal came at 3:31 of the first period, beating Kings defenseman Sean Walker in the slot:
Rust tied the game late in the second period on the power play, getting the finish on another setup by Jake Guentzel:
Those goals bring Rust's total to 12 goals in 19 games, nearing his career high of 18 goals from last season in a little over a quarter of the number of games. His shooting percentage of 17.39 is currently a career high, and leads all Penguins skaters currently on the roster.
Rust added a primary assist, his 10th assist of the season, setting up Teddy Blueger's goal midway through the third period. Rust's shot hit Kings defenseman Matt Roy and trickled past Jonathan Quick, and Blueger knocked in the loose puck sitting in the crease:
After Jack Johnson scored his second goal of the season, the Kings scored twice in the final five minutes of regulation to force overtime. After a scoreless overtime period, the game went into a skills competition shootout.
Each team's first three shooters were unsuccessful. Rust shot first in the fourth round of the shootout, and scored:
"That's been my move since I was little," Rust laughed. "I kind of lost it a little at the blue line, the ice was brutal. But I regained it, I was able to make the move."
The Kings' Adrian Kempe lost the puck on his attempt in the fourth round, and the game was over. Rust was named the No. 1 star for his three-point night and shootout game-winner.
Rust thought the team's comeback performance with some key players out spoke to their perseverance.
"It was just a character win," he said. "We have a lot of guys out. Down by two, up by two, then they tie it at the end of the game. It was a bit of a rollercoaster game, we tried to stay even-keel throughout the entire thing."
And for Rust personally, with this new level of personal success being a big contributor to the team success during a time when everyone needs to step up, the game is just more fun.
"The game is fun right now," said Rust. "Just trying to take it in stride, trying to get better every day. Things are going well right now."
• Tristan Jarry was the starter, two days after posting a shutout over the Blue Jackets that only required 17 saves. Jarry stopped 38 of 42 shots in the win on Saturday, and was perfect in the shootout.
Sometimes it can be a struggle for goaltenders to see such varying shot totals, seeing such little action like in the Columbus game, or a high volume like in this game. Goalies have different preferences, but usually the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. Jarry is handling either situation with ease, though.
"I just think he's playing really well right now," Sullivan said of Jarry's play. "He's seeing the puck, he's tracking the puck, his rebound control is great. He's just seeing it really well. He's playing very well for us. They had a fair amount of quality chances tonight, and he made some big saves for us. That's what he's done."
• Joseph Blandisi played his fourth game in as many days -- two in the NHL, two in the AHL, with travel in between. Rust had the best line on describing Blandisi's week.
“I don’t know if I’d be moving if I played four games in four days," Rust said. "He’s a warrior.”
• Midway through the game, Sullivan moved Jared McCann from second-line center to first-line center, shifting Jake Guentzel back to wing, and moving Dominik Simon to second-line center. The motivation for the move was to just get Guentzel back to a position where he was more comfortable.
"I just didn't like the first line in the first period," Sullivan said. "I just thought, 'Hey, let's move Jake to the wing.' I thought Jared had a little jump tonight, so we decided to make that switch and put Jake in his natural position."
• Kris Letang had a pretty Letang-like game. He and John Marino allowed a 2-on-0 on the Kings' first goal, and Letang lost track of Tyler Toffoli on the second goal. He lost track of Anze Kopitar in the third period, allowing Kopitar a breakaway, and causing Letang to chase after him. Letang "slashed" (using that term very lightly) Kopitar on the breakaway, giving Kopitar a penalty shot. And then Letang was on the ice again for the Kyle Clifford goal in the third period. But, Letang recorded secondary assists on the Penguins' first three goals.
• Sam Lafferty dropped the gloves with Kempe for Lafferty's first NHL fight, and fifth pro fight of his career. It was a long bout, with Lafferty taking a slight edge.
• Officiating was iffy, from a Brandon Tanev goal getting called back in the first due to goaltender interference, Kopitar being awarded a penalty shot after being tapped by Letang, and officials messing up an offside call in overtime. Jarry also believed he was interfered with by Clifford on the tying goal from Michael Amadio.
"I felt like (Clifford) pushed my legs out and I couldn't do anything to get back up," Jarry said. "It's the call they made on the ice, and there's nothing we could do about it."
• The Penguins improved to 2-0 in shootouts this season. Their earlier shootout win was at home against the Blackhawks on Nov. 9.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THE INJURIES
• Nick Bjugstad last played on Nov. 15. He underwent core muscle surgery and will be out at least eight weeks from that time. He began skating on his own this week.
• Sidney Crosby last played on Nov. 9. He underwent core muscle surgery and is expected to be out a minimum of six weeks from that time.
• Brian Dumoulin last played on Nov. 30. He underwent ankle surgery to repair lacerated tendons on Dec. 1 and is expected to be out a minimum of eight weeks.
• Patric Hornqvist last played on Nov. 30. He sustained an lower-body injury in practice on Dec. 2. He's out "longer term."
• Evgeni Malkin last played on Dec. 10. He's recovering from an illness, and skated on his own Saturday morning.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Dominik Simon -- Jake Guentzel -- Bryan Rust
Zach Aston-Reese -- Jared McCann -- Dominik Kahun
Alex Galchenyuk -- Teddy Blueger -- Brandon Tanev
Joseph Blandisi -- Sam Lafferty -- Stefan Noesen
Kris Letang — John Marino
Jack Johnson — Justin Schultz
Marcus Pettersson — Chad Ruhwedel
And for Todd McLellan‘s Kings:
Alex Iafallo - Anze Kopitar - Dustin Brown
Trevor Lewis - Jeff Carter - Kyle Clifford
Adrian Kempe - Blake Lizotte - Austin Wagner
Matt Luff - Michael Amadio - Tyler Toffoli
Joakim Ryan - Drew Doughty
Ben Hutton - Matt Roy
Kurtis Macdermid - Sean Walker
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins have a travel day Sunday. They'll play in Calgary on Tuesday, Edmonton on Friday, and Vancouver on Saturday. After the Christmas break, the Penguins will travel to Nashville on Dec. 27. They won't return home until Dec. 28 to complete the home-and-home against the Predators.
THE COVERAGE
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MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins vs. Kings, PPG Paints Arena, Dec. 14, 2019 -- MATT SUNDAY / DKPS