SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Bryan Rust almost was repulsed by the question.

At least that’s what his body language suggested.

A day before his first game of the season Oct. 26 at Dallas, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ forward was asked if he still would utilize the unusual method he employed to block a shot in the final game of the preseason Sept. 28.

During a penalty kill against the Buffalo Sabres, Rust leaned low and forward with each of his arms down to block a slapper from Sabres defenseman Colin Miller. The puck struck his left hand, and Rust missed the first 11 games of the regular season.

Would he do that again in a meaningless preseason game?

“Yeah,” Rust said somewhat defiantly. “Get low. Block the shot. Got to cover as much as surface area as I could. I blocked it, didn’t I? I’ve just got to add a few more pads to my gloves.”

That modus operandi has become Rust’s defining trait. If there’s a need, he fills it.

Penalty kill? He is third on the team with an average 1 minute, 28 seconds of short-handed ice time this season.

Power play? He has manned the slot for the better part of a month and figures to stay there with forward Jake Guentzel sidelined.

First-line winger? Skating with Evgeni Malkin and Dominik Kahun, Rust arguably is the team’s top winger after Guentzel’s injury.

In that role, he already has tied his career high in goals with 18 in 30 games.

But not only is he scoring more goals, he is scoring important goals.

His latest, during Friday’s 4-3 overtime win in Colorado, was evidence of that.

At the 18:20 mark of the second period, the Avalanche took a 2-1 lead on a fluky goal by forward Gabriel Landeksog. He flipped the puck up from outside the blue line, then it took a strange hop over the glove hand of goaltender Matt Murray and the Avalanche finished the period with momentum.

Rust quickly reclaimed it at the start of the third period.

Collecting a rebound in the high slot, he whipped a wrister through goaltender Pavel Francouz legs to tie the score only 1:14 into the third.

It wasn’t just a timely goal for the Penguins. It was a goal the Penguins needed.

“Anytime a team gets a late goal late in the second, and the nature that it was, can be a little deflating,” Rust said. “It was important to come out (for the third period) quickly, and to be able to get that goal on the second shift of the period, I think was big.”

The notion of Rust scoring big goals isn’t anything new. Long ago, he established his reputation as “Big Game Bryan Rust” by scoring game-winning and series-clinching goals during the team’s Stanley Cup runs of 2016 and ’17, although it has waned a bit with inert performances in the ’18 and ’19 playoffs.

But he was primarily a bottom-six forward during those championship seasons. Now, he’s a first-liner helping carry a team besieged by injuries.

Three of his goals have been winning scores this season, and 13 of his goals have tied games.

“There are a number of goals this year that have come at pretty good times,” Rust said. “Anytime you score more goals, your chances of scoring important ones go up.”

With Guentzel, Sidney Crosby and Malkin having missed ample time this season because of injury, Rust has done more than simply contribute to the Penguins’ success.

“Obviously, there are those guys in the league that are going to control the play who are stars and can make things kind of happen on the ice,” Rust said. “Then there are guys that contribute and help those guys.”

Has Rust crossed that threshold?

“I don’t know,” he said. “I haven’t really thought about it. I’m just trying to take this year day by day.”

Rust’s teammates aren’t so hesitant to evaluate if he’s transformed from contributor to something more profound.

“Oh yeah,” forward Jared McCann said. “He’s been one of our best penalty-killers. He blocks shots. He not only contributes offensively, but his defensive game is one of the best. He’s a guy coaches rely on every night. It’s good to have him.”

Rust is one good game away from breaking through that mystical barrier of 20 goals, which can can serve as a “graduation” in being regarded as a “goal-scorer” instead of a “contributor.”

Does he have an eye on that figure?

“No,” Rust said, before walking that back. “I try not to.”

“But it’s obviously something that creeps up in the back of your mind. I’m just trying to continue to help this team win.”

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