PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – The Pens had to wait for the first goal of the season, it wasn’t caught by the naked eye, rather had to go to replay to show Bryan Rust’s deflection of a Kris Letang shot/pass went past Petr Mrazek for a 1-0 Pens lead at 12:57 to go in the first period.
The 31-year-old Rust is coming off four straight 20+ goal seasons including 20 last year. Rust told the Fan Morning Show on Monday he wanted to be more consistent this season. He started the scoring with Letang getting the first assist of the season, the 536th of his career. Lars Eller who had recently come out of the penalty box got his first assist as a Penguin.
Other firsts
· 1st shift—Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel, Bryan Rust, Kris Letang, Ryan Graves
· 1st shot on goal—Bryan Rust 40 seconds into the game
· 1st faceoff won—Sidney Crosby, opening
· 1st hit—Jake Guentzel at 19:25
· 1st save—Tristan Jarry against Kevin Korchinski at 19:01
· 1st penalty—Lars Eller, goaltender interference at 15:07