Bryan Rust becomes a playoff hero as Penguins advance to Stanley Cup Final

A rookie took down the Lightning in Game 7.

by Patrick Iversen

May 27, 2016, 1:00 PM UTC

Don Wright-USA TODAY Sports

Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals had all the big names you could've asked for.

Sidney Crosby. Evgeni Malkin. Victor Hedman. Phil Kessel.

And guess who stole the spotlight.

Bryan Rust. Jonathan Drouin. Matt Murray. Andrei Vasilevskiy.

As they have so often throughout the 2016 NHL playoffs, young, inexperienced players shined brightest in a monumental moment. It was Rust, the most inexperienced of the bunch, who pushed Pittsburgh through to a date with the San Jose Sharks in the Stanley Cup Final.

Rust, 24 years old, has played in 55 regular season games. He has five goals. He's now played in 17 playoff games this year. He has five goals. Two of them were the only ones Pittsburgh scored in their 2-1 win in Game 7 on Thursday. This is how big an impression he made to an audience so unfamiliar with him:

Bryan Rust crashed HockeyDb. I'm not kidding, I just tried to look up his NCAA stats there and the site is down.
— Corey Sznajder (@ShutdownLine) May 27, 2016

Rust was pivotal. His contributions bring to mind Max Talbot's series of clutch goals when the Penguins won the Stanley Cup in 2009. Champions don't get this far on the backs of superstars alone. The Lightning were going to pressure Malkin and Crosby all night. Pittsburgh needed someone else to step up.

Rust was, and has been, that someone. And now Pittsburgh is one step away from another Stanley Cup.

Scores

Penguins 2, Lightning 1 (PIT wins series, 4-3)

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3 things we learned

1. Stamkos was not enough

Stamkos' final line for the night: two shots on goal, no points and a goal scored while he was on the ice. OK, to be fair, one of those shots was a great chance that Matt Murray simply turned aside. Other than that, Stamkos' nearly 12 minutes of ice time was essentially nondescript. Not bad. Just not noteworthy.

That's no criticism, mind you. For him to play so soon after vascular surgery is remarkable, and I'm not sure anyone expected Stamkos to give much more than he did. Good for him to rehab to the point he could return in time for that moment, but it simply didn't have much impact.

2. The Lightning's future is sound with Drouin and Vasilevskiy

Stamkos’ lengthy absence and Ben Bishop’s injury opened the door for Jonathan Drouin and Andrei Vasilevskiy to earn their keep. Both were sensational. Drouin finished with 14 points. In the first two rounds, he proved his playmaking abilities with eight assists. And then he tallied four goals in the Eastern Conference Final. It took some drama, but Drouin has arrived as a dynamic offensive presence.

And Vasilevskiy has to make Bishop wonder how much longer his tenure in Tampa Bay will last. He was terrific all series, keeping the Lightning in games when they seemed to flatline at both ends of the ice. He’s arrived as well.

3. Some deserving veterans are going to win their first Stanley Cup

The obvious ones are the pair of old-timers on the Sharks. Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau have some serious highs and some serious lows in their nearly two-decade-long careers, and watching them lift the Cup is a pinnacle difficult to root against. But how can you overlook Trevor Daley for the Penguins? The dude put in some grueling years with the Dallas Stars, and a Stanley Cup win after a season-ending injury seems like a just reward too. Hard to be upset no matter who wins.

Impact Moment

For all the good Vasilevskiy did this series for the Lightning, he will lose a lot of sleep this summer thinking about this series-deciding goal against.

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So much sleep.

Tweets from Tony

Remember Tony, AKA @soloucity on Twitter, who fell in love with hockey during the Blues/Blackhawks Game 7? We're dedicating a section in our recaps to the gems of his Twitter account during the playoffs.