Bryan Rust called his goal in Monday's 4-3 overtime win over the Ducks a "double relief."
The first reason is obvious.
The Penguins were holding onto a 2-1 lead midway through the third period when goals just over four minutes apart from John Klingberg and Trevor Zegras put the Ducks ahead, 3-2. When the Penguins pulled Casey DeSmith in favor of the extra attacker and Rust capitalized with 24.8 seconds left on the clock, it tied the game and forced overtime, setting the stage for Jake Guentzel's eventual overtime game-winning goal.
The second reason for relief was a bit more personal for Rust, and not for the reason you might think.
Rust has had a handful of goal-scoring slumps this season -- he's gone at least six games without a goal on three separate occasions this season. He first went seven games without scoring from Nov. 2-17, and then six games without scoring from Nov. 20-Dec. 1. Nothing too concerning, but not ideal.
His latest slump was the longest he's had this season -- nine games, stretching from Dec. 27 until Saturday, ending with his game-tying goal on Monday.
Rust seemed a little more frustrated with his play during those earlier two slumps this season, and for good reason. In both that six-game and seven-game stretches without goals, Rust didn't record a single assist, either. He wasn't showing up on the score sheet at all in those games.
This nine-game slump, although longer, seemed to sting a little less for Rust on a personal level. He had five assists in those nine games, including some pretty meaningful ones. He had the primary helper on Guentzel's go-ahead goal in the 4-1 win over Arizona on Jan. 8, and helpers on both of the Penguins' first two goals that sparked the 5-4 comeback win over the Canucks after initially trailing by three goals on Jan. 10.
So when Rust was asked if this goal meant a little more to him personally beyond just in the context of the game, he said it did. But not because it ended a goal drought.
"It's a double relief with the game I had," Rust said. "I think I had four or five really good looks, and a 2-on-1 with (Jeff Carter) there in the third. I was definitely not happy with myself with some of those chances that didn't go in, but I've been here before. I've been through this a lot. There's times that things aren't going to go your way, and I think I just tried to keep digging it in."
Rust said he had to give a lot of credit to Guentzel and his other teammates for the "unbelievable play":
"(Sidney Crosby) made a really good seam-pass to me down low and I was able to throw it to the net," Rust said of the goal. "I actually thought Jake scored, but then the puck was kind of in that corner. (Rickard Rakell) dug it out, got it to Jake and he made an unbelievable play over to me."
Mike Sullivan said what he liked about the goal was simply "the execution."
"I thought the execution, the decision-making was good," Sullivan said. "There was no panic. It was a collective effort. There was a number of different passes there to create the opportunity that Rusty got. It was a terrific play by Jake. There was a lot or movement prior to that. I think that was a big part of it."
Rust is right about generating a lot of chances in this game before that moment -- his five shots on goal in the game were tied for the lead among Penguins forwards, and his four high-danger chances ranked second behind only Jason Zucker. If you look at his individual event map from the game, his three shots from the first two periods came in the slot close to the net. The only real mid-range shot he had all game was that one from the right circle that led to the sequence that resulted in the tying goal.
There was this chance in the first period set up by Crosby, kept out by a quick kick save from John Gibson:
There was this back-door opportunity Rust had on the 5-on-3 man advantage in the third period:
There was this backhand chance in the slot minutes later on a 4-on-4 situation, after he nearly broke Trevor Zegras' ankles when he faked a pass to get past him:
There was this feeling for much of the game that Rust would break his slump with the opportunities he was getting -- he could have easily had a couple of goals in this game. He couldn't have picked a better time to finally get back on the scoresheet.
