Penguins forward Bryan Rust 'fine' after falling in morning skate
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Penguins appear to have dodged yet another injury scare.
During the early stages of Friday’s morning skate at Nationwide Arena, Penguins forward Bryan Rust tumbled feet-first into the corner boards and limped off the ice towards the dressing room. A few minutes later, he returned to the ice and participated in a drill with the team’s first power-play unit.
Rust was not available to reporters and could be seen walking through the dressing room in street clothes with a slight limp.
When asked if there was concern over Rust being available for Friday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, coach Mike Sullivan said Rust would “be fine.”
If the Penguins did need to replace Rust in the lineup with another forward (as opposed to potentially using defenseman Juuso Riikola at forward, as has been the case for three games this season), a recall from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League would be required.
Rust has been one of the team’s most potent offensive weapons this season with 17 points (nine goals, eight assists) in only 14 games.
The team is already without forwards Nick Bjugstad (core muscle), Sidney Crosby (core muscle) and Justin Schultz (undisclosed). All three are on injured reserve.
Notes:
• Goaltender Tristan Jarry is expected to start in net. In eight games this season, he has a 5-3-0 record along with a 2.01 goals against average and .938 save percentage.
• Presumably, Matt Murray would start Saturday’s road game against the St. Louis Blues. Murray has a strong, but limited history, at the Enterprise Center. In two career games at that venue, he has a 2-0-0 record, a 1.00 goals against average and .969 save percentage.
• The team’s lines and pairs in the morning skate were:
Jake Guentzel – Evgeni Malkin – Bryan Rust
Dominik Kahun – Jared McCann – Patric Hornqvist
Alex Galchenyuk – Sam Lafferty – Dominik Simon
Zach Aston-Reese – Teddy Blueger – Brandon Tanev
Brian Dumoulin – Kris Letang
Jack Johnson – John Marino
Marcus Pettersson – Zach Trotman
Juuso Riikola – Chad Ruhwedel
• The Penguins typically skip morning skates but opted to stage on one Friday after taking Thursday off due in part to Thanksgiving.
• The Blue Jackets are expected to start goaltender Joonas Korpisalo. In 19 games this season, he has a 10-8-1 record along with a 2.88 goals against average, .901 save percentage and one shutout.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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