For the Pittsburgh Penguins, Thursday’s 5-2 road loss to the Vegas Golden Knights was nothing out of the ordinary, especially because it was their sixth consecutive loss.

What was different was how they generated their offense. Each goal came by way of their top line.

In their five previous games, no such thing happened.

Forward Bryan Rust suggests a simple formula for all of the team’s top-six forwards to generate more offense in advance of Sunday’s road game against the Arizona Coyotes.

“We’d like to score some goals,” Rust said to media that traveled to the Coyotes’ practice rink in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Saturday. “We’ve got to try to get some more time in the offensive zone. The more time you spend there, the more pucks we get to the net. The probability and chances of scoring goals — you can score an ugly one or score a pretty one, it doesn’t matter — go up.”

Mullet Arena debut

Sunday’s game will be the Penguins’ first at the Mullett Arena on the campus of Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz.

After being evicted, essentially, from Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Ariz., after the 2021-22 season, the Coyotes are using Mullett Arena as a lifeboat of sorts until they get a permanent home building squared away elsewhere in the Phoenix area.

Named after Arizona State benefactors Donald and Barbara Mullett, Mullett Arena holds only 5,000 spectators, a figure well below all other NHL venues.

“For us college guys, it’s going to be a lot of fun to be back in a college building again,” Rust said. “I’ve heard it’s a really nice building. They’ve got some good crowds, and they’ve got a lot of wins there.”

Hallander out of hospital

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins forward Filip Hallander was released from Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center in Wilkes-Barre on Friday night after he appeared to be seriously injured during a 4-2 home loss to the Charlotte Checkers at Mohegan Sun Arena.

Late in the contest, Hallander was hit into the left corner boards and fell to the ice awkwardly. Almost immediately, teammates began to signal for medical assistance.

Eventually, Hallander was removed from the ice on a stretcher and taken to the hospital.

The remainder of the game — there was 1:12 left — was canceled with the Checkers being credited with a victory.

Per a release from the team, Hallander underwent testing and examination before being released and returning home to rest. The specific nature or severity of Hallander’s injury was not disclosed. He was scratched from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s lineup for a home contest against the Hartford Wolf Pack on Saturday.

A native of Sweden, Hallander, 22, is one of the top prospects in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ organization. Selected in the second round (No. 58 overall) of the 2018 draft, Hallander is in his second professional season in North America.

This season, he was recalled to the NHL roster Nov. 8 and appeared in two games with no points and an average ice time of 9:58.

Hallander, who scored the first goal of Friday’s game, is Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s third-leading scorer this season with 25 points (eight goals, 17 assists) in 26 games.

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