ELMONT, N.Y. -- Bryan Rust's night on Friday didn't last very long.
Rust took a single lap in warmups before heading to the locker room and being declared a late scratch. Brian Boyle, who hasn't played since Nov. 16 in Washington, dressed in his place in the 1-0 win over the Islanders at the new UBS Arena.
Mike Sullivan said postgame that Rust was being evaluated for an undisclosed lower-body injury.
It's not clear when or how Rust sustained the injury, but it would seem as if he sustained it or aggravated something during that brief time on the ice for warmups. He was a full participant in the Penguins' morning skate on Friday and didn't seem to be in any sort of pain, and he seemed fine in this brief video the Penguins shared of the pregame soccer game:
Soccer time ⏰ pic.twitter.com/7vNncbZ76b
— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) November 26, 2021
With Rust out, the Penguins didn't have to do much line shuffling in the game. Evan Rodrigues shifted from third-line center to Rust's spot on the first-line right wing, and then Boyle slotted in on the third line in Rodrigues' place between Dominik Simon and Danton Heinen.
"I thought E-Rod did a real good job," Sullivan said after the win. "You know, he's playing extremely well for us. He's played with Sid in the past, last year, he played on that line for a fair amount of time. So they're very familiar, we thought it was a natural decision to put him up there. I thought Sid's line was really good, and E-Rod was a big part of it."
The Penguins are set to play the Canadiens at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday, so we could get an update on Rust as soon as Sullivan's pregame availability then.
