Bryan Rust Scores Hat Trick In 9-2 Win Over Montreal

When Kris Letang’s son Alex came to watch his dad play at Bell Centre back in October, he had to leave and go to bed after the second period, since he had to be on the ice at 7 AM the next day.

After Thursday’s matchup with Montreal, Kris wasn’t sure if Alex was still around and awake. “It’s always Mom’s call,” he said with a smile.

Hopefully this time, Alex got to witness the final frame, as the Penguins scored six goals in the last 20 minutes of play to come away with a 9-2 win. Pittsburgh’s nine total goals are the most any team has scored in the 2024-25 season.

“I think we were on our toes,” Bryan Rust said. “Even though we had the lead, we weren’t sitting back... we just kind of went at ‘em, and we were able to get that fourth one, and our PP had a huge goal – which I think hurt them a lot. We kept going from there.”

Here are the biggest takeaways from the game.

QUITE THE NIGHT FOR RAKELL-CROSBY-RUST

Rust scored his sixth career hat trick as part of a four-point night. His line with Rickard Rakell – who tied his single-game career high with four points (2G-2A) tonight, his first four-point game since Jan. 11, 2015 – and Sidney Crosby (3A) was cookin’, as they combined for 11 points. What were the ingredients for success?

"I don't know, sometimes it's just clicking,” Rakell said with a smile and a shrug. “But we talked about having a guy in the slot and let the first two guys go to work. Try to get them to not play so tight on us down low. I think that that opened up some plays for us going through the middle guy.

“Then when we were on the rush, we had a middle rush, and we just played with confidence after that. We knew we were going to have a lot of 1-on-1’s out there. We know Rusty is dangerous when he gets on that left side, just let him do his thing.”

Rust’s explanation was a bit simpler:

“I think when we're all we're all moving our feet like that, and kind of working together, obviously good things happen when we're able to find that open ice and make those plays.”

As he reiterated after the game, Mike Sullivan has a “ton” of pride when he thinks about the player Rust has developed into since they were in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton together back in 2015. They both ended up in Pittsburgh that season, and helped the Penguins win back-to-back Stanley Cups.

Rust has evolved from an energy guy who wasn’t even on WBS’ top power-play unit to a top-line scoring winger in the NHL. Since he entered the league in 2014-15, no Penguins player has recorded hat tricks than Rust.

“It's always fun. Obviously, something that doesn't happen all too often. Definitely one I’m going to remember,” Rust said with a grin. “Some nights it feels good, and sometimes the puck just finds you, and that's how it goes. Obviously, there in the third period, everybody was great. We were on our toes and scored a lot of goals [laughs].”

HOMETOWN HERO

Sullivan said Pittsburgh’s fifth goal is what broke the game open, as Rust alluded to earlier. It came on the man-advantage, off the stick of Letang, a sneaky shot that crossed the line just over three minutes after Rakell put the Penguins up 4-2 early in the third.

The coaching staff switched up the units recently, deploying Letang, Rakell, Matt Grzelcyk, Michael Bunting and Sidney Crosby on one, and the moves have paid off.

“It was a really important goal for us,” Sullivan said. “We talk about power play statistics and things of that nature. But for me, one of the biggest attributes of a good power play is the timing of when they score goals, and that was an example of it. So, that's what our groups are capable of, both power play groups. For me, that was an important one for us.”

It also feels like playing in his hometown just gives Letang a boost, especially getting to create core memories with his hockey-loving son, who is now 12. Alex came to the rink in the morning with Kris, examining the stick rack and stopping by the coaches office.

“He’s a wise 12-year-old,” Sullivan said. “Alex and I spent a half an hour together watching film this morning. Incredibly impressed. And he plays center. I learned that this morning. He plays center, he doesn’t play defense. He has some similarities (to Kris). As my dad would say, they don’t grow up like the neighbors! [Laughs]”

The boys also got a kick out of having Alex around, and let Kris know once they rode back to Bell Centre in the late afternoon.

“I came back for pregame, and everybody's talking about how he’s hanging out with everybody,” Kris said with a laugh. “It's fun to see him being in the environment that he likes to be in.”

SNEAKY SAVES

Goalies often don’t get talked about in wins like this, but Tristan Jarry deserves a lot of credit for the part he played. While Montreal did score on the first shot of the game, it was on a play any goalie would find tough to stop. The Penguins had turned it over on the offensive blue line, sending the Canadiens’ best players on an odd-man rush, with captain Nick Suzuki converting.

“Just keep going. I don't think there's much more you can do,” Jarry said. “They got a lucky break just in transition. They were able to get behind our guys. It obviously happens. I think we're just on the wrong side of the puck there, but we just have to keep going. I think when that first one goes in, you have to obviously battle a little harder. I thought the guys had a great response, and we were able to get one back pretty quick.”

But the Canadiens had momentum on their side for much of the first 40 minutes, and Jarry quietly and confidently turned aside a number of Grade-A chances to keep them from keeping it there permanently. He has now won five of his last six outings.

"I thought he played extremely well. Especially at the first half of the second period, I thought we got outplayed... I thought Jars was there to make some timely saves for us,” Sullivan said.

“It was a close game early on... It could have gone either way then, but he just kept us in the game and gave us a chance to really step on them in the third period,” Rakell said.

DEPTH SCORING

Finally, it’s telling that players we talked to in the locker room brought up Matt Nieto and Noel Acciari getting on the board in the final frame. They rounded out the scoring in the final minutes.

Nieto’s tally was his first in 405 days after working his way back from two knee surgeries, while Acciari truly does bring 110% effort every single night, laying his body on the line while being tasked with a lot of thankless jobs.

"It's always fun to see some guys get on the scoresheet that you usually don't see,” Letang said. “Guys like Niets, you know, he's been through a long road not playing for almost a year, so to see him on the scoreboard - Cookie, also - that's fun to see those guys chip in."