The Penguins' forwards took a hit here Thursday when Bryan Rust exited with a lower-body injury midway through the second period and didn't return. Mike Sullivan did not have an update afterward.
It's not immediately clear how exactly Rust did get hurt, but he did absorb a big hit from Radko Gudas along the boards earlier in the period.
"Yeah, you don't like seeing guys go down," Sidney Crosby said of Rust's injury. "He plays a lot of important minutes in every situation. So, hopefully he's okay."
The Penguins are scheduled to practice in the Honda Center at 3 p.m. Eastern before heading to Seattle. Should learn more then.
• Blake Lizotte was the latest victim of the illness making its way through the Penguins' locker room, after Kris Letang and P.O Joseph were both recently sick. Lizotte didn't take warmups and was not present in the press box with the scratches for the game.
• Alex Nedeljkovic wasn't great. He stopped 29 of 33 shots, including seven of 10 high-danger shots. Obviously, he was great in his two starts to start this trip. They generally do ride the hot hand in goal, so it's not outrageous that they continued to do that here. Hindsight is 20/20. It'll probably be Joel Blomqvist's net against the Kraken.
• Another lineup change that would be unsurprising in Seattle: Ryan Graves in for either P.O Joseph or Owen Pickering, both of whom had a tough night. Joseph was on the ice for the first three Ducks goals, and Pickering was on the ice for the first and third, after Marcus Pettersson was caught out there with Joseph for the second goal. With Joseph and Pickering on the ice, the Penguins did control shot attempts by a 10-8 margin, but were outshot 7-4 and trailed in high-danger attempts, 3-1. They controlled just 26.53% of the expected goals. Both Pickering and Joseph can play on the right side, but it isn't ideal for either. Graves only plays on the left. Graves ideally would get in over Ryan Shea, but it could actually be Shea getting back in because of his comfort on the right side.
• Congratulations to Matt Nieto, who managed to be the best guy out there tonight just by not making a negative impact. That's Joseph at the bottom stretching the whole X-axis out:
• Rickard Rakell had four of the Penguins' 12 hits.
• Frank Vatrano got his obligatory goal against the Penguins. He has 11 in 22 career meetings against the Penguins, tying the Lightning for the team he's scored against the most in his career in seven fewer games:
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 24, 2025
• Wasn't going to ask about the reason for this after a loss, but Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang all went no-helmet in warmups. Actually a crazy sight. None of them ever do that, and Crosby, specifically, isn't one to change up routines. The only other guys who go no-helmet are Erik Karlsson and Nieto, and those two were still the only ones to do it on this night. So it was seemingly some pact the core made together, for some reason. Given that they lost, it's hard to imagine they do it again.
• The Penguins will occasionally organize meetings postgame between a fan who is going through a tough time in some way. It's usually Crosby doing these, for obvious reasons. But there was a young fan here from Australia who deals with health challenges and actually wanted to meet Drew O'Connor, and O'Connor took some time after the game to make that happen.
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
THE ASYLUM
Taylor Haase
6:52 am - 01.24.2025Anaheim, Calif.Loose Pucks: Rust exits with injury
The Penguins' forwards took a hit here Thursday when Bryan Rust exited with a lower-body injury midway through the second period and didn't return. Mike Sullivan did not have an update afterward.
It's not immediately clear how exactly Rust did get hurt, but he did absorb a big hit from Radko Gudas along the boards earlier in the period.
"Yeah, you don't like seeing guys go down," Sidney Crosby said of Rust's injury. "He plays a lot of important minutes in every situation. So, hopefully he's okay."
The Penguins are scheduled to practice in the Honda Center at 3 p.m. Eastern before heading to Seattle. Should learn more then.
• Blake Lizotte was the latest victim of the illness making its way through the Penguins' locker room, after Kris Letang and P.O Joseph were both recently sick. Lizotte didn't take warmups and was not present in the press box with the scratches for the game.
• Alex Nedeljkovic wasn't great. He stopped 29 of 33 shots, including seven of 10 high-danger shots. Obviously, he was great in his two starts to start this trip. They generally do ride the hot hand in goal, so it's not outrageous that they continued to do that here. Hindsight is 20/20. It'll probably be Joel Blomqvist's net against the Kraken.
• Another lineup change that would be unsurprising in Seattle: Ryan Graves in for either P.O Joseph or Owen Pickering, both of whom had a tough night. Joseph was on the ice for the first three Ducks goals, and Pickering was on the ice for the first and third, after Marcus Pettersson was caught out there with Joseph for the second goal. With Joseph and Pickering on the ice, the Penguins did control shot attempts by a 10-8 margin, but were outshot 7-4 and trailed in high-danger attempts, 3-1. They controlled just 26.53% of the expected goals. Both Pickering and Joseph can play on the right side, but it isn't ideal for either. Graves only plays on the left. Graves ideally would get in over Ryan Shea, but it could actually be Shea getting back in because of his comfort on the right side.
• Congratulations to Matt Nieto, who managed to be the best guy out there tonight just by not making a negative impact. That's Joseph at the bottom stretching the whole X-axis out:
• Rickard Rakell had four of the Penguins' 12 hits.
• Frank Vatrano got his obligatory goal against the Penguins. He has 11 in 22 career meetings against the Penguins, tying the Lightning for the team he's scored against the most in his career in seven fewer games:
• Wasn't going to ask about the reason for this after a loss, but Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang all went no-helmet in warmups. Actually a crazy sight. None of them ever do that, and Crosby, specifically, isn't one to change up routines. The only other guys who go no-helmet are Erik Karlsson and Nieto, and those two were still the only ones to do it on this night. So it was seemingly some pact the core made together, for some reason. Given that they lost, it's hard to imagine they do it again.
• The Penguins will occasionally organize meetings postgame between a fan who is going through a tough time in some way. It's usually Crosby doing these, for obvious reasons. But there was a young fan here from Australia who deals with health challenges and actually wanted to meet Drew O'Connor, and O'Connor took some time after the game to make that happen.
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
We’d love to have you!