One wintry morning in Winnipeg a few years ago, I asked Sam Lafferty, pride of Hollidaysburg, Pa., and a babyfaced rookie with the Penguins at the time, to pick a player after whom he'd patterned his game to that point of his professional career.

Kid looked at me like I was nuts.

"I mean, Bryan Rust," he replied. "Isn't that what everyone tells you?"

Actually, no, not until that. But Lafferty'd go on to describe how the team's developmental types in Wilkes-Barre and throughout the system had begun telling the tale of how Rust, a largely unheralded third-round pick in the 2010 NHL Draft, had made himself into a Pittsburgh mainstay ... then an 'elite' penalty-killer, per Mike Sullivan ... then a power-play option ... then a front-liner ... then a playoff performer with a penchant for producing in Game 7s ... then a two-time Stanley Cup champion.

Times are tougher now, of course. The franchise hasn't been on the smiling end of a playoff handshake line in seven years. A ton's changed.

But this hasn't:

Surprised I'd show that scene first?

Thought so. Bear with me a moment.

Yeah, that's a rare Rust mistake in the defensive zone, albeit not to any devastating degree. Happened tonight in the first period of what'd wind up a 4-3 shootout loss to the Panthers here at Amerant Bank Arena. Conor Timmins hoped to break out Rust's way up the right side, but the pass to Rust's forehand put him in a spot that'd be a challenge for anyone with Gustav Forsling bearing down along the boards and, sure enough, Forsling was able to chip the puck toward free ice, where Sam Reinhart swooped onto it and did what he does.

Perched in the press box above that very goal line, I didn't have wonder what Rust thought of this sequence. He looked like he was ready to smash his stick ... over his own helmet.

Then, three minutes and a tick later:

Super-slick. That's a sharp look down low by Erik Karlsson, but that's a big-time backhand tuck for a guy not exactly known for turning the wrists over like that, never mind undressing poor Nate Schmidt in the process.

Then this, in the period's final minute:

It's one thing for the greatest player of his generation to flip an aerial pass like that over two lunging Florida sticks, it's another thing for that player to trust Rust to be able to even try doing something with it and, my goodness, to whack it up and over Sergei Bobrovsky with one hand for his 25th on the season?

Bottom line: Whatever damage he'd done, he'd just undone by the first intermission.

And he wasn't done with the undoing:

Nothing special about the pass to Evgeni Malkin except that, if Rust hadn't scored the two beauties beforehand, he might not be taken as a serious enough threat to distract.

That made it 3-1 and, although Rust would have three bona cracks at a hat trick and the final shootout attempt -- lodged cruelly between Bobrovsky's left toe and the pipe -- he and the team gave the Stanley Cup champs all they could handle and, more significant, extended a 5-1-1 run of highly competitive hockey despite being close to comatose in the Eastern Conference standings.

I know better than to ask Rust about himself of his achievements. I showed him a copy of the gorgeous Getty pic adorning the top of our app right now, and I might as well have shown him a dissertation on the oddly anthropomorphic deities of ancient Mesopotamia.

So I asked instead about the team's recent efforts:

"It shows a lot about the character and leadership in this room that we're in here to keep fighting hard and playing really hard," he replied. "It doesn't really matter where we are or what's going on, I think we're in here to still prove something and still be a good hockey team."

Same message he's had since he shared that with me a few weeks ago in Salt Lake City. And the team's been at or near that level since, pushing for two points even if they won't amount to anything in the end.

To wit, he wasn't wild about taking too much from this outcome ... because of the outcome.

"For the most part, we played really hard. Obviously, there were too many mistakes out there. Those things happen, but I think good teams win those games when you're up by a goal with however many minutes left. Good teams, teams that win, they find ways to win those games."

No doubt. But there's something to be spoken for pride.

When some talk about it, it's eyeroll material. When it's Rust and he's drop-dead serious, and he went public in telling our Taylor Haase before the NHL trade deadline that he'd exercise his contractual right to veto any move, and he expends himself as he does ... yeah.

Sullivan was assessing the game here in saying, "I'm proud of the guys. I think we're competing hard, and I think our intentions are in the right place. It's not perfect out there. It's a game of mistakes, and we're going to make some. But we're trying to play the game the right way. We're trying to play hard. ... We didn't get the result, but I loved our competitive spirit."

To which I asked how much of that's originating with Rust:

"He's an inspiring player," the reply began. "Rusty just plays an honest game. He gives you an honest effort every night, he plays on both sides of the puck, he's got a great attitude and he's a great teammate. He's a born-and-bred Pittsburgh Penguin, and a multiple-time Stanley Cup champion."

So I've been told.

"He's doing all the right things on the ice," Rakell was telling me after this. "He's a big part of our power play, big part of our penalty kill, big part of our five-on-five, big part of any situation on the ice ... and you always know what you're going to get from him. Always gives it all every shift. He's definitely one of the guys you want to look up to whenever it comes to how Pittsburgh Penguins hockey is supposed to be played."

So I've been told.