Rust's 3 goals help Penguins belt Senators 8-5
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[December 06, 2016]
PITTSBURGH - Cue the partridge
in a pear tree.
The Pittsburgh Penguins' 8-5 win over the Ottawa Senators on Monday
night at PPG Paints Arena had a little of everything and a lot of
some things, namely goals.
"That was a weird game," Ottawa coach Guy Boucher said. "Everything
that could happen, happened."
Among the 13 goals were three power-play goals, a penalty-shot goal
and an empty-netter. There were 80 shots, 85 hits, 34 blocked shots,
two goaltender changes and three tie scores.
Merry in some ways, not so much in others.
"Any time you score that many goals, I think you're happy with it,
but I think we gave up too many chances. That's something that's a
part of the game we've got to shore up," said Penguins winger Bryan
Rust, who notched his first career hat trick with the opening goal,
the penalty shot goal and the empty-netter. He also had an assist
for a four-point night.
Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel each had a goal and an assist for
Pittsburgh, which also got goals from Sidney Crosby, Matt Cullen and
Justin Schultz.
Kyle Turris, Erik Karlsson, Mark Stone, Mike Hoffman and Dion
Phaneuf had goals for the Senators. Karlsson had four points, Stone
had three.
It was the Penguins' third win in a row, lifting them to 35 points,
tied with the New York Rangers and the Chicago Blackhawks and one
behind Montreal atop the league standings.
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Ottawa had been 5-1-1 in its previous seven games.
Rust opened the scoring off a no-look setup from Malkin 1:45 into
the game, and it was on.
"You could tell, really, from the first period that it was going to
be one of these games, and we couldn't find a way to seal it up and
not give them the space that they worked really hard for," Karlsson
said. "They're a good team. They're a good possession team, and
they're a veteran team.
"They played a well-played game and we didn't do a good enough job
of shutting them down the way that we needed to shut their top
players down and it's an 8-5 game."
The teams traded goals for the balance of the first period -- Turris
and Karlsson for Ottawa sandwiched around one by Crosby to make it
2-2.
Stone and Hoffman scored the first two goals in the second period,
giving Ottawa three straight goals and a 4-2 lead.
Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan pulled starting goalie Marc-Andre
Fleury after the Senators' fourth goal.
"It was more about trying maybe to just change the mindset of the 18
skates in front of him," Sullivan said of Fleury, who stopped 12 of
16 shots. "Sometimes when you get in those situations, you make that
type of a change and maybe provide a spark for the group or maybe
just change the mindset a little bit."
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![](../images/120616pics/sports71.jpg)
Penguins right wing
Bryan Rust (17) celebrates with center Nick Bonino (13) after
scoring a goal to complete a hat trick against the Ottawa Senators
during the third period at the PPG PAINTS Arena. The Penguins won
8-5. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
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Momentum certainly shifted when Cullen, 40, outraced Karlsson to get
deep on a short-handed breakaway and beat goaltender Craig Anderson
at 8:28 of the second period.
"It was nice to get one there and try to spark the team a little
bit," Cullen said. "I didn't know if I would be able to get all the
way to the net.
"I was getting ready to shoot. But, yeah, I was happy I was able to
get all the way in there and make a move."
Kessel and Schultz scored before the second intermission, and Malkin
gave Pittsburgh a 6-4 lead at 1:05 of the third period.
Phaneuf pulled Ottawa within 6-5 at 6:17 of the third period before
Rust scored on a penalty shot after being hooked by defenseman Chris
Wideman, prompting Boucher to pull goalie Craig Anderson, who
stopped 36 of 43 shots.
"My heart was probably racing faster than it did all game," Rust
said of the penalty shot.
His empty-net goal put things away with 2:28 left in regulation.
"It's tough," Stone said. "We made a couple mistakes that ultimately
cost us the game. It's 6-5, trying to make a play, give up a
breakaway (to Rust)."
NOTES: Pittsburgh G Marc-Andre Fleury started for a third straight
game for the first time since G Matt Murray returned from a broken
hand at the end of October. ... At the outset, the Penguins shuffled
their second and third lines to look like this: LW Carl Hagelin, C
Evgeni Malkin, RW Phil Kessel; LW Chris Kunitz, C Nick Bonino, RW
Bryan Rust. ... Senators G Craig Anderson returned from a leave
(wife's illness) and started instead of Mike Condon, who began the
season with the Penguins and was picked up in a trade for when
Anderson is away. ... Pittsburgh scratched Fs Tom Kuhnhackl and Jake
Guentzel and D Steve Olesky. ... The Senators scratched D Marc
Methot (lower body injury). ... The Penguins' sellout streak
(regular season and playoffs) reached 445 games and surpassed eight
million. It began Feb. 14, 2007, at Civic/Mellon Arena.
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