Bryan Rust said that one of the topics discussed amongst the group after Monday's 7-1 loss to Dallas was "responding to certain adversities." He led the charge in that regard during Pittsburgh’s next game on Wednesday versus Detroit.
The winger scored a timely goal to help the Penguins recover from a second-period deficit and come away with a much-needed point, as they fell to the Red Wings in overtime, 3-2.
“Obviously, a loss is a loss. But I think the way we responded – we went down two - was a hell of a lot better than the way we responded the other night,” Rust said. “Rome wasn’t built in a day. We’re trying get this thing going in the right direction as fast we can. That was a good step.”
After the Penguins gave up six goals to the Stars in the first period of that matchup, they got solid goaltending early in this one to keep the game from snowballing. Alex Nedeljkovic was steady between the pipes for Pittsburgh as Detroit built a decent edge in shots. The Penguins started to tilt the ice as the period went on, and went into the first intermission scoreless.
But the Red Wings were opportunistic in the opening minutes of the middle frame, taking a 2-0 lead just 5:15 in. But Rust took matters into his own hands from there, scoring a beautiful, momentum-shifting goal that got the Penguins going back in the right direction.
“I've seen that goal I don't know how many times now. He's got a knack for it, beating guys wide like that and finding the far post,” Nedeljkovic said. “That was huge. Got us going, obviously.”