Penguins forward Bryan Rust finds the 20-goal mark once again
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It’s one of those questions that really doesn’t have an answer.
But it’s worth pondering.
Why is 20 the figure a hockey player needs to reach to be considered a “goal scorer” at any level of the sport?
“Good question,” Penguins forward Bryan Rust said. “I wish I had a good answer as to why people define that as the number each year. It starts at 20, obviously, (then) 30, 40, 50, 60, possibly 70 this year.
“That just seems to be the benchmark of a guy who can score goals consistently.”
Rust has achieved that benchmark for five consecutive seasons, including the ongoing campaign, having tallied 21 through 48 games.
He hit the 20-goal threshold in a 7-4 home loss to the New York Rangers on Sunday then supplemented that figure with his 21st goal Tuesday in a 5-2 road loss to the New Jersey Devils.
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He might have reached that plateau earlier this season were it not for a spate of injuries that sidelined him for 20 games.
Heck, he might have been a 30-goal scorer over any of the past five seasons were it not for various obstacles.
The 2019-20 (27 goals in 55 games) and 2020-21 (22 goals in 55 games) seasons were shortened by the pandemic. In 2021-22 (24 goals in 60 games), he missed 22 games because of various maladies.
And last season (20 goals in 81 games), he simply did not play all that well by his own admission.
“Obviously, it would be nice to not deal with the obstacles,” Rust said. “(Covid-19) is out of your control. Injuries are out of your control, too. … The two years I was fully healthy — one being last year — I wasn’t playing up to the standards I would have liked. Then the one year was a 56-game season (2020-21).
“But I think being able to do it in less games might give me a little bit of more pride kind of knowing there’s more opportunity to even produce more and help this team win games.”
The Penguins haven’t won as many games as they would have liked this season. That’s why they’re on the outside looking in with regard to the playoff race with less than four weeks remaining in the regular season.
There are plenty of reasons the Penguins have fallen well short of even the most base of expectations. But Rust isn’t one of the leading candidates for their overall corrosion.
“You know what you’re getting out of him,” defenseman Kris Letang said. “He’s playing at the top of his game. He brings so much speed, he goes to the tough areas, he works really hard, he has a good defensive conscience, he plays really well on both sides of the puck. He’s a guy that is smart. He can play with (top-line center Sidney Crosby) and the speed that Sid plays at. They complement each other pretty good.”
Once upon a time, Rust was scared to even discuss the subject of being a 20-goal scorer.
Midway through the 2019-20 campaign, when he was still merely “19-goal scorer Bryan Rust,” as a 27-year-old, he simply declined to even answer a question from a reporter about the prospect of reaching the 20-goal mark for the first time in his career.
Typically fearless when it came to driving to the net with abandon or sacrificing his body to block a shot, Rust was frightened he might jinx himself and slip into a goal-scoring slump.
Rust, now 31, is much more comfortable in his own skin as a steady 20-goal threat.
“I’m definitely significantly more confident in knowing what it takes,” Rust said. “I have that mindset of going to the net. … Most of my goals are within 10 feet of the net. It doesn’t matter how things are going. There’s been years where I’ve dealt with injuries, years where I’ve dealt with not playing as well as I would have liked and I think still finding that consistency of going to the net, you’re going to get rewarded.
“I definitely have a heightened sense of pride kind of knowing that I’ve been able to score consistently for a little while here.”
Notes: The Penguins recalled rookie defenseman Jack St. Ivany from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. … Forward Jeff Carter skated before practice Thursday in Cranberry and remains “day to day” with an injury that sidelined him Tuesday. Per coach Mike Sullivan, Carter will travel with the team for its upcoming two-game road trip.