Rust recorded 10 goals, 11 assists and 21 points in 11 games in January, leading the league with a 1.91 points-per-game average (min. 2 GP). His 10 goals and 21 points led Pittsburgh last month, and were tied for fourth and third in the NHL, respectively. In January, only Mikko Rantanen (8) recorded more multi-point games than Rust's seven.
Rust began January with a career-high five-point night (3G-2A), which included his fifth career hat trick, in his first game back from an 11-game absence due to injury on Jan. 2. Rust's five-point game marked Pittsburgh's first since Evgeni Malkin did so on Nov. 27, 2019 (2G-3A). On Jan. 2, Rust combined with Evan Rodrigues to became the second set of teammates in the past 10 years to each record a hat trick in the same game, joining Edmonton's Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on Mar. 26, 2019.
In his first three games of January, Rust recorded seven goals and 11 points, becoming just the third NHL player in the expansion era (since 1967-68) to record 11 or more points through the first three games of a calendar year, joining Wayne Gretzky (15 points in 1984; 11 points in 1982) and Mario Lemieux (12 points in 1997). Rust became the third Penguins player in the past 25 years to record multiple goals in three or more straight outings from Jan. 2-6, along with Malkin (3 GP in 2017-18) and Sidney Crosby (3 GP in 2009-10).
Pittsburgh earned points in 10 of the 11 games Rust played in during January (8-1-2), which included eight-straight wins with him in the lineup from Jan. 2-25.
