Rust gets 'Mustache Boy' treatment after shootout drill loss

When Dan Bylsma was head coach of the Penguins, the team would have regular shootout drills in practice, with the last player to score receiving some sort of light punishment, like having to round up juice after a practice or magazines for a road trip for his teammates.

Once a month, one of those drills would be the "Mustache Boy" drill, and the loser of the shootout would have to grow a mustache for the entire month.

That drill ended, though, when Bylsma's time in Pittsburgh ended.

"Mustache Boy" made an impromptu return on the Penguins' recent road trip to New Jersey, though.

Bryan Rust lost the shootout drill at the conclusion of Friday's practice in Newark, and for Saturday's game he coincidentally shaved his full beard into just a mustache, something he emphasized in his celebration after his goal, skating down the line in front of the Penguins' bench holding his finger in front of his face like a mustache:

Rust was asked after Saturday's game if the mustache had any connection to the shootout loss.

"Uh, it does," he said. "Yes."

"That was good fun," Cody Ceci laughed when asked about Rust's celebration. "That was from a shootout contest that he lost yesterday and had to shave a mustache in. So when he scored today, he was pretty happy and we were all laughing."

No, it doesn't mean Mustache Boy is back for good. The way his teammates described it, it was a spontaneous decision in the shootout drill to keep things light.

"It kind of just came out of nowhere, to be honest," Zach Aston-Reese said. "I think it was just to lighten the mood after a loss like (Thursday's) where we made a good push at the end. We didn't play the best, we didn't play the worst. But it's definitely something we did to lighten the mood. Rusty losing it, I think kind of was just a cherry on the top."

Because of the unexpected drill, Rust had to scrounge together some supplies at the rink to pay his debts after practice. And he made up for the lack of goals in the drill when it actually counted in Saturday's game.

"I found a couple of razors at the rink, found some shaving cream at the rink," Rust said. "I took it back to the hotel and did it there. Obviously, it's a look I've sported before during Movember, but I was just saving (a goal) for today, I guess. I took about 14 attempts in practice yesterday and couldn't find it, obviously. I was able to capitalize today."