"The chemistry on this team is awesome."
This was Bryan Rust, minutes after the chemistry on the NHL's hottest team yet again was awesome, along with the speed, the skill, the toughness, the tenacity and all else in the Penguins' 5-3 takedown of the Blues on this Wednesday night at PPG Paints Arena.
He'd been asked about all that we've already witnessed within this winning streak that's now at nine, and, my goodness, he'd only just begun.
Allow me, please, to splice up the rest of the quote, verbatim and in its entirety:
Rust: "We've got a really good group."
Yep. Of note, they've got a forward chart so deep that Rust himself might still seem like an afterthought even after scoring his side's first two goals of this game as the follow-up to a hat trick.
These cut St. Louis' lead to 3-2:
Rust: "Guys are meshing well."
Yep. When St. Louis defenseman Niko Mikkola engaged in a slashing/cross-checking/facewash duel with Sidney Crosby in the second period, in addition to lighting up an already lit captain, he brought Brian Dumoulin rushing to his defense.
And everyone else on the rink:
Rust: "We've got unbelievable leadership that we've always had."
Yep. That guy. From the drop of the puck, it'd been clear Sid was wound up. Maybe because he'd been mad at himself for having only four goals to date, seeing as he'd hinted as much. Or maybe he'd been extra-eager to see how his streaking team would handle a recent Stanley Cup champion that'd been on its own 7-1-1 surge. Or maybe he'd been longing, after a slow start following wrist surgery and COVID, to get all the way back to being everything he's always been. Or maybe, ultimately, he wanted to keep sticking it to Mikkola.
Whichever the case, neither this goal, which tied the score at 3-3 with 7:37 left in regulation, nor his impassioned celebration came across as coincidence:
Rust: "And I think everyone fits in nicely. Everyone knows their role, on and off the ice."
Yep. All the way through a mythical fifth line that's been called upon endlessly with all the missing front-liners. And in the extraordinary event that someone's elevated their role, it's been both earned and rewarded.
Which is how Evan Rodrigues, deployed in a now-familiar trigger role on the ensuing power play, kept adding to one of the league's best breakout stories with this beautiful blast a mere dozen seconds later:
Rust: "And I think it's just that we go out there, we come to the rink every day, and we have a whole lot of fun together. And I think that goes a long way."
Yep. But only after the work. And no one from here to Riga outworks Teddy Blueger, in games or practices. Early in the third, he blocked back-to-back shots in the Pittsburgh zone, including a horizontal sacrifice on Vladimir Tarasenko that visibly stung.
So when he'd later get rewarded with this sweet assist on Brock McGinn's sealer, it brings an emotion that courses through the whole bench:
Rust: "And I think, as far as our team goes, when we get fully healthy here, it's definitely gonna be fun to see what we've got. I think we've got a really good team. I think a lot of us feel that we can do something special this year."
Yep. And that's it. That's the full quote, as Rust spoke it and, really, the column. Dude's got five goals, seven points and a primary column assist in the same week.
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NHL
• Hey, Pittsburgh, you've got yourselves one hell of a hockey team.
That's as far as I'll take it for now. This was the 32nd game, with a full 50 to go. But 19-8-5, a tie with the Hurricanes for the NHL's longest streak of the season, the franchise's own longest streak since a 15-gamer March 2-30, 2013, and amid all these injuries and illnesses -- this game still didn't include Evgeni Malkin, Jeff Carter or Jason Zucker -- is enough for me to at least begin the belief process.
But on the inside, from the sound of it, they're well past that.
Rust's sentiment above came a day after this gem from Kris Letang after practice Tuesday in Cranberry.
"The feeling I had in '16 was, even if after the first period, second period, you're down by three, you're down by two, there's no panic," he'd say, referring to the 2016 run to the Cup that culminated with his winning goal in San Jose. "We'd believe in our system, we'd believe in each other, we were playing the same way, and we knew we were going to win those games. Like sometimes you go in the room and you have a feeling like tonight is not our night or it's gonna be a tough one. And it was never the case. It was always full confidence. Every guy was doing their job. They were doing their details. They know they had a role, and everybody was doing it to the best they could, and everything was in sync. So that's the feeling."
Right. Just that.
They've been there, Rust and Letang. They know.
• The outsider/newcomer view on this can be cool, too. I raised it with McGinn, who'd previously been with some pretty good Carolina teams, after the game:
"Yeah, I think this team's been good for so long," he'd reply. "I think just coming here, you've really got to appreciate how good they truly are and how sound their game is. Just being a part of it this year, it's been eye-opening. And a lot of fun to be a part of."
• Only player on the winning side not having any fun was Casey DeSmith, who was awful again in getting beating for three goals on 16 shots, all up high, all with his heels deep in the paint.
Taylor Haase has the details there, so all I'll add is that Ron Hextall's got one move -- and one move alone -- screaming into his face right now, and it's not as if he doesn't realize that.
• However energized Sid was on the ice, he kept it cool afterward when asked about the duel with Mikkola.
"I mean, we knew it was gonna be a physical game. They don't give up a lot of space," he'd say of the Blues. "And you know, it's one of those plays that just kind of escalates. You don't expect it. It's emotion and intensity, and that's the kind of game it was here tonight. So you just want to respond the right way ... and I thought we responded really well."
He sure did.
The whole line did, actually, with Sid, Rust and Jake Guentzel combining for seven points, 13 shots and 21 shot attempts -- to the Blues' 12 -- while on the ice at five-on-five.
But Sid still stood out and won effusive praise from teammates and especially his coach.
"I thought he was in beast mode tonight," Sullivan would say. "I thought he was just so in command, so strong on the puck. I thought he struggled in the faceoff circle early, but in the third period he was really good. He won some critical faceoffs for us."
Finished up 14-14.
"But he was so strong on the puck in the battle areas and going to the net," Sullivan continued. "The goal he scored was vintage Crosby for me. He's just so good down low, so good in traffic, so strong on the puck. And when he's playing the game that way, he's the standard-bearer for the team. I think he raises the intensity level for the whole group. I think he establishes a certain expectation that flows through our bench that everybody's got a responsibility to play the game a certain way when you when your captain and your best player is leading by example, the way he was tonight."
• Let the record show that it was Mikkola who gave the puck away up the boards on Sid's goal and that it was Mikkola who was overpowered physically by Sid to get to the net.
• Craig Berube, St. Louis' coach, challenged that goal, maintaining Sid had interfered with Jordan Binnington. He lost the challenge and, thus, the Penguins were awarded the power play that brought Rodrigues' goal a dozen seconds later.
Berube persisted afterward.
“The goalie had the puck, in the crease, Crosby comes through the crease, his foot is in the crease, knocked it out of his hand and scored a goal,” Berube would say. “It’s goalie interference.”
Well, no, it isn't. Because Binnington's arm was out of the crease, and a 50-50 puck there is exactly that.
For what it's worth, Berube had an empathetic ear down the hall, as Sullivan reiterated his oft-stated displeasure with the rule that punishes coaches for a challenge, instituted in 2019.
"It's one of the hardest calls a coach can make," Sullivan said.
My own view: If Berube's got any reasonable doubt about the goal's validity, in that moment, at that stage of the game, it's worth the gamble.
• Brayden Schenn, who had a goal and assist for the Blues, had this to offer on the Penguins: “We spent most of the time in our end. They’re a deep team. They’re fast. They play hard."
• Had the chance to meet Tom Werner, chairman of the board at Fenway Sports Group, and came away uncommonly impressed by a sports executive. Within a few minutes, it's easy to see how he's gotten as far as he has, not least of which was being on the short list for commissioner of Major League Baseball when the job instead went to Rob Manfred.
Taylor has the details there, too, so all I'll add is that he couldn't have said all the right things any more rightly than he did. My initial feel, for whatever it's worth, is that the franchise is in fine hands.
• Mike Matheson's best two games of the 2021-22 NHL season have been these past two. Danny Shirey breaks that down for this week's Drive to the Net, and he'd actually chosen that topic beforehand, believe it or not.
• Thanks for reading, as always. Taylor and I are headed to the wrong end of the commonwealth Thursday in time for the 7:08 p.m. faceoff in Philadelphia.
• One bright spot, by the way, to DeSmith's latest disaster: With Tristan Jarry entering halfway through and stopping all 13 shots he'd face, he won't have to overcome the rust he'd accumulated -- not having played since Dec. 19, 2021 because of the extended holiday break, then COVID -- all at once against the Flyers.
• Sullivan played this right. He needed to save his No. 1 goaltender for the divisional opponent the Penguins need to bury to enhance their chance of making the playoffs. But also needed his backup to be competent.
• OK, I'm done now for real. If I can't edit my own copy, I'll lose this job to Rust forever.
