Rust’s confidence shining

Winger red-hot since returning from an injury

ST. LOUIS — With four goals in his first 38 games, Bryan Rust’s confidence was lacking. Different story now. Rust scored the winning goal in the Penguins’ 4-1 victory Sunday against the St. Louis Blues at Scottrade Center. In eight games since returning from an upperbody injury, Rust has already doubled his goal total in 2017-18.

“My confidence is in a pretty good spot right now,” Rust said. “For me, it starts with moving my feet. Plays will come from there.”

Rust did a little bit of everything against St. Louis, including moving his feet.

He played 16: 59, attempted five shots, put four on goal, accumulated three hits and had two takeaways. Two minutes and 17 seconds of his ice time came on the penalty kill, with 52 seconds coming on the power play.

After starting the game on a line with Sidney Crosby, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan called an audible and used Rust at times on the third line.

Sullivan has often referred to Rust as the Penguins’ Swiss Army Knife, and he’s right. Any line, any situation, Rust will perform.

“He’s one of the more versatile players we have on our roster,” Sullivan said. “As a coach, it’s comforting to know you have guys like ‘Rusty’ you can move up and down the lineup.”

On his goal, Rust started the play fairly deep in the defensive zone. He transitioned the other way quickly, so fast that he was able to knock a pass attempt away from Blues defenseman Vince Dunn, then snap a shot past Jake Allen from the slot.

“I don’t think Allen was expecting to give up a breakaway there,” Rust said. “He might’ve been a little deep in his net trying to be a little bit more patient. Try to do the best thing possible.”

Seems to be happening a lot lately for Rust.

‘Definitely different’

Sunday’s game officially started at 11:21 a.m. CST. It’s the Penguins’ second in four seasons to start before noon local time, the last coming in Chicago on Feb. 15, 2015 — a 2-1 Blackhawks shootout win that started at 11:38 a.m.

It took both teams a decent chunk of time to get into the flow of the game.

“It was definitely different,” Rust said. “I don’t think I’ve played that early since midget days. Just one of the things over the course of a season that gets thrown at you. You have to adjust.”

A win, any win

This one completed the trifecta of things that have ailed the Penguins.

On the road. Western Conference. Central Division.

The Penguins improved to 11-15-3 on the road, 11-12-4 against the West and 4-6-3 against the Central Division.

“I think this is a big win for us,” Rust said. “St. Louis is a really good, tight-checking, defensive team.

“We haven’t been that great against teams like that this year, especially teams out of the West and on the road. To be able to grind this one and be as patient as we were was good.”

Sullivan had a much less complicated way of looking at this.

“We just need to win,” Sullivan said. “That’s what I think.”

Forecheck pressure

An underrated part of Riley Sheahan’s goal was the forecheck pressure created by Dominik Simon, who returned to Sidney Crosby’s left wing after a brief stint on the fourth line.

Simon pried the puck away from Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and slid a perfect pass to Sheahan.

Turns out that’s one of the primary reasons Sullivan elevated Simon to Crosby’s line — for his ability on the forecheck and to play a give-and-go game.

“I thought Dominik had a strong game,” Sullivan said. “He responded well.

“He’s really good at playing that give-and-go game down low. One of his strengths is his ability to play in traffic. His tight-area game is really good. He has great hands. He’s elusive. And he sees the ice pretty well.

“For a guy that might be undersized a little bit, he’s really strong on the puck. … We were looking for someone who would be heavier on the puck down low. We thought he brought that [Sunday].”

Numbers on Crosby

Crosby became the 95th player in NHL history to reach 400 goals. He’s the third member of the Penguins to do it, behind Mario Lemieux (690) and Jaromir Jagr (439).

Evgeni Malkin has 358 career goals.