In a tightly contested pre-season where prospects are typically at the forefront, a longtime Pittsburgh Penguins’ veteran drove the bus for the team in game one.
Forward Bryan Rust notched a goal and two assists as the Penguins defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 4-1, in their first pre-season game of 2026. The win gives them six consecutive victories in the pre-season, which, according to Penguins’ historian Bob Grove, is tied for the third-longest streak in franchise history.
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Rust was joined on the scoresheet by Connor Dewar, Avery Hayes, and Elmer Soderblom, who secured the win at the end with an empty-net goal from just above the goal line. Jake Richard scored the lone goal for the Sabres, which came on a power play late in the second period.
All in all, it was a complete effort to start what is a short pre-season as well as a condensed one. The Penguins play the Detroit Red Wings at home Tuesday before going on the road to face the Columbus Blue Jackets and Buffalo Sabres on Thursday and Friday.
“The coaches are making sure that, when you blink, camp’s going to be over,” Hayes said. “You don’t want to regret anything, you kind of want to attack every day with the mindset that you don’t know what’s coming tomorrow. So, you just gotta attack every day with 100 percent.”
Midway through the first period, Andrei Kuzmenko – playing on a line with Ben Kindel and Rust until Kindel didn’t come out for the second period – fed a puck to Rust, who attacked the offensive zone with purpose. He stickhandled his way through several Sabres and left one on a platter for Dewar, who ripped it home from the slot to give the Penguins the 1-0 lead.
The score remained 1-0 until midway through the second period, when Buffalo took a pair of penalties to give the Penguins a brief five-on-three. Just 18 seconds into the five-on-three, a pretty tic-tac-toe passing play from Kris Letang to Hendrix Lapierre to Rust, waiting in the low slot area, made it 2-0.
After the late goal by Richard, the Penguins were in the offensive zone with time waning in the middle frame. With less than five seconds to go, Hayes forced a turnover by Sabres’ defenseman Dennis Gilbert behind the net and looped to just above the goal line, where he sniped a top-shelf shot over the right shoulder of goaltender Alex Lyon to restore the two-goal lead, which the Penguins were able to protect the rest of the way.
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“It’s just an extra effort play with almost no time left in the period,” Rust said. “Those things can be momentum-killers if you’re the one it happens against, or it can be a momentum-builder. And, I think for us, that was huge.
“Obviously, it’s a pre-season game, but you can see that he just outworked everybody on the ice, and then he sniped. The more he does that, the more he’s going to impact this team in just the most positive way.”
Here are a few notes and observations from game one of the pre-season:
– Rust was the best player in this game, and it wasn’t particularly close. Throughout the entirety of camp so far, he’s arguably been the most noticeable player, which says a lot about the 34-year-old veteran.
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It’s been said many times that he possesses a lot of Crosby-like qualities. His effort in training camp as if he’s still a kid trying to make the team is one of them, and it sets a great example for the younger guys, like Hayes, trying to make this team.
‘Leadership’ can be an overstated quality, but that’s not the case with Rust. He is a true leader for this locker room in every sense of the word.
– As mentioned before, Kindel did not return for the second period after sustaining a lower-body injury. Head coach Dan Muse could not provide an update on Kindel after the game, as he is still being evaluated.
Obviously, this would be a huge loss for the Penguins if he misses any chunk of time. He looked shot out of a cannon in that first period, and it would be yet another blow to their center depth with Blake Lizotte already out week-to-week.
– That said, this is exactly why having so much forward depth is a net positive for the Penguins. And the guy who took Kindel’s place on that line, Tristan Broz, got a chance to show out for the final two periods between Kuzmenko and Rust.
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And he was really, really, solid out there. He looks comfortable in all three zones, he’s a smart player who almost always makes clean reads, and he’s got a rocket of a shot, too. He looked right at home on that first power play unit.
“He was good,” Rust said. “You can tell he’s a really good hockey player. Thinks the game at a high level, makes really good plays out there. I think the more he gets comfortable, the better he’s going to be.”
If Lizotte is not ready to go for the season-opener, I think Broz has a nice path to fill that role. And, if Kindel is out, you can pretty much pencil him in for an NHL roster spot to begin the season along with Filip Hallander, who also had a nice showing Monday.
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– To go back to Hayes for a second, I predicted that this guy would crack the opening night roster because his play in these games would force the organization’s hand at keeping him up.
I’ll stand by that. Hayes just has that extra gear, and he’s a type of feisty and relentless yet skilled bottom-six player that the Penguins have lacked for a good spell.
– This was a good performance by both Sergei Murashov and Joel Blomqvist, who split the game. Murashov stopped all 12 shots he faced, while Blomqvist stopped 10 of 11 and didn’t really have much of a chance on the goal, as he appeared to be screened a bit.
The battle between these two through four days has been a legitimate one. Both looked comfortable, poised, and ready to go.
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– Owen Pickering and Harrison Brunicke were relatively quiet as a pairing in this one. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Both – especially Pickering – look substantially better defensively than they did at this time last year. Pickering made all the right decisions Monday, his gap control was excellent, and he was counted upon on the penalty kill and in defensive situations, handling it like a champ.
As for Brunicke, there was a small but telling third-period play with around 12 minutes left. He went to pinch down the right wall on a puck, but glanced over his shoulder to make sure he was covered before fully committing. It sounds like something so simple, but that’s not something he was doing last year. In fact, his decision-making as far as joining the rush and jumping into the play was pretty much perfect on Monday.
Both look NHL-ready. Even if they start the season in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (WBS), it won’t be long before they’re full-time NHLers.
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– Of note, Ryan Graves led all Penguins’ skaters in ice time Monday with 22:33. This wasn’t a bad performance by Graves, even if he didn’t stand out.
But second in ice time? That would be Chase Pietila, who played an excellent game. I feel like there aren’t too many people who are talking about this guy, but he is so smart on the blue line, very risk-averse, and solid as a rock defensively.
He’s someone to watch in WBS this season. He’s not flashy, but he does all the right things.
– Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin will both be in Tuesday’s lineup against Detroit, as will several other veterans.
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Another two exciting names? Liam and Markus Ruck.
Those two will be interesting to watch in this one, as they will be surrounded by NHL regulars. If I was a betting person, I’d wager that Calvert centers the Rucks, but we shall see.
Of note, a forward and a defenseman have to be scratched. Hopefully, one of the twins isn’t the odd guy out.
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