In Washington, DC, Bryan Rust struck for two goals and the Pittsburgh Penguins topped the Capitals, 3-0, on Saturday. 
“I just think he’s really turned himself into a real impact player,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “He understands how to play to his strengths. He’s developed his offensive game I think as good as any young player that I’ve been around as a coach in 20-something years coaching in this league. I can’t say enough about ‘Rusty’ and what he brings to this team.”
The win pushed the Pens into first place in the East.
Tristan Jarry made 24 saves for the shutout.
“They’re a divisional team, and it was our last two games against them this year, so I think we just wanted to leave our mark and try to do the best we can and just try and get wins,” Jarry said. “It’s that time of year that we’re at, just trying to rack up as many wins as possible and put ourselves in a good spot.”
The Pens went 6-2-0 against the Caps this season.
“He (Jarry( was fantastic. There was a whole lot of chances that we gave up there in the second period, and he was unbelievable diving around making great saves,” Rust said. “He’s just calm, cool and confident in there right now, and I think that just kind of flows through the lineup anytime your goalie’s making saves like that and he’s feeling confident.”
Kris Letang also scored for the Pens.
Ilya Samsonov made 23 saves in the loss.
“You’re going to have games like this, but even if they won 3-0 I don’t think we played that bad,” the Capitals’ Nicklas Backstrom said. “We should have probably scored on our chances in the second there. It would have been a different game. In the third, felt like we couldn’t get anything going there.”
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