Rust looks at season pause as next challenge for Penguins

Bryan Rust views the pause of the NHL regular season as another challenge for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The two-time Stanley Cup champion forward was one of several high-profile Penguins sidelined with either an injury or illness. Rust had NHL career highs of 27 goals and 56 points despite missing the first 11 games with a hand injury and another three from Nov. 29-Dec. 4 because of a lower-body injury.
Then the season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus.
"I think it's been a season of adversity," Rust said in a videoconference arranged by the Penguins. "I think for us, whether it was all the injuries, injuries to key players or things like that, I think we just had to overcome adversity. Depending on where this goes, we get back into the season, it's just kind of another hurdle that we're going to have to try to overcome."
Along with Rust, the Penguins played without centers Sidney Crosby (core muscle surgery) for 28 games and Evgeni Malkin (lower-body injury and two undisclosed illnesses) for 14. Forward Jake Guentzel was expected to be out 4-6 months after having shoulder surgery Dec. 31, adding to a list of injured Penguins that's included, among others, defensemen Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin and Justin Schultz, and forwards Jared McCann, Patric Hornqvist and Nick Bjugstad.
The Penguins (40-23-6) moved into first in the Metropolitan Division with a 5-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 18 before losing their next six games in regulation. They are now third in the division, four points behind the first-place Washington Capitals and three back of the Philadelphia Flyers.

The pause came when coach Mike Sullivan thought Pittsburgh was returning to the form that carried it through the first five months of the season. The Penguins won three of five games in March, including 5-2 at the New Jersey Devils on March 10.
In that win, Sullivan saw a team coming together with newly acquired forwards Patrick Marleau and Evan Rodrigues starting to fit.
"There were a number of circumstances in trying to rationalize why our team had some of the adversity that it went through," Sullivan said. "We were starting to find the chemistry again in everyone's roles, and the new guys and how to utilize those guys and maximize their contributions to our group."
Sullivan thought Pittsburgh might have been able to carry that momentum through the rest of the regular season, but general manager Jim Rutherford said the pause might be more beneficial.
"I think that, prior to us stopping play, we had run into a period where we were overusing guys in certain areas and it started to catch up with us," Rutherford said. "We didn't have that same energy and juice we had in the first half of the season. So I would suggest it would be to our benefit, having the break."
Individually, Rust might not benefit. His chance to reach 30 goals for the first time in six NHL seasons could be over.
But as the Penguins have this season, if Rust gets the chance, he said he'll attempt to defy expectations.
"I'm just trying to see where this whole COVID-19 quarantine thing goes," Rust said. "If we get back into the season, we play regular-season games, maybe I'll be able to get [to 30 goals]."