Tim Benz: Penguins’ Bryan Rust's ‘foundation’ for his goal-scoring surge on full display

This is what Bryan Rust’s season has become.

On a shift where the Penguins winger scored a goal, the actual scoring of the goal wasn’t the most impressive part of the play.

And, during the same game, a play where he almost scored an overtime game winner may have been more impressive than Sidney Crosby ending it.

Not bad for a guy who at roughly this time last year was looking like a player that may have lost his offensive touch for good.

Rust now has a team-leading 22 goals and 45 points (second on the team). That’s a long way from the meager seven points he accounted for through Dec. 9 of last year.

However, what may be the most nuanced angle about Rust’s campaign thus far is that while the point production has gone up, his dedication to hustle and tenacity hasn’t waned.

Those were traits that got him promoted to the Penguins NHL club back in 2015 and caused him to stick for good during the franchise’s Stanley Cup run of 2016.

Last November — and April — when general manager Jim Rutherford ripped his players for getting too satisfied after the championship runs of ‘16 and ‘17, many speculated that Rust was one of the guys he meant.

I never agreed with that. In Rust, I saw a guy who stopped producing. Not one who stopped caring.

This year, though, whatever blend of “want to,” plus skill, plus good fortune that had failed Rust in the past has coalesced in 2019-20.

For example, look at his performance against the Philadelphia Flyers last Friday night. Yes, he scored a power play goal to help the Penguins close a two-goal deficit.

But what was truly impressive about that play (at 3:08 of this highlight) is how he took the puck away from Claude Giroux and the effort he displayed to keep it in the zone in the first place.

Later, Crosby scored an overtime game winner.

But Rust’s move (at 7:58 of this highlight) to steal the puck in the Flyers’ end, dance through defenders, and fire a shot off the post was the best part of the brief extra session.

For Rust, he insists his point production and his fourth-line grinder mentality have always been mutually inclusive.

“That’s the foundation of my game,” Rust said after the victory over Philadelphia. “Hard work. Using my skating to cause some turnovers and make plays from there.”

Rust’s hustle play allowing defense to become offense gave the Penguins 3-on-3 offensive-zone possession. That’s something head coach Mike Sullivan always preaches as the most important part of any NHL overtime.

And if Rust had actually scored on that play, it may have gone down as one of the great regular-season goals at PPG Paints Arena.

“He’s played like that since he got here on day one,” Crosby said. “His speed, his work ethic allow him to make plays. His all-around game is unbelievable. When he is making plays like that, guys are going to benefit. Himself, too.”

Via injury or a slowdown in pace, the odds suggest that at some point this year Rust is going to endure a decline in scoring.

Buffering against that likelihood and still figuring out a way to offset the loss of Jake Guentzel are the main reasons why Rutherford is expected to be active in the trade market. He’ll be searching for a top-six winger.

What’s most encouraging about Rust’s game, though, is that his bottom-six mentality hasn’t been sacrificed in the name of searching for top-line statistics.

“His overall, 200-foot game is the best it has been since he has been a Pittsburgh Penguin,” Sullivan said Friday.

And that’s something Rutherford and Sullivan can count on, even if, eventually, they may not be able to count on all these goals.

• Hear more about Rust and the rest of the Penguins as they get ready to play the Tampa Bay Lightning Thursday night in my podcast with TribLive Penguins beat writer Seth Rorabaugh.