Bryan Rust out 6 weeks as Penguins lose top winger

The news landed Thursday morning before Pittsburgh hosted Florida, and it came quickly.

Josh Yohe

@JoshYohe_PGH

Bryan Rust is out and will be evaluated in six weeks.

Rust got hurt in the 3rd period of Monday's 5-4 loss to the Utah Mammoth and didn't come back. Pittsburgh is calling it a lower-body injury, and a reevaluation in 6 weeks works out to roughly 18 games without him. That's a floor, not a return date. It's also his 2nd problem this year, since he was dealing with an upper-body issue back in the preseason.

It hurts because Rust has been one of the few things going right. He has 3 goals and 5 points in 7 games, he's 6th on the team in scoring, and he's been riding on Crosby's wing. He's 34 and has played 717 games in a Penguins sweater, and 2 days before he got hurt he was reportedly on the trading block. Any trade market for him is on hold until at least December.

Muse also had updates on the rest of the injury list, and none of them were good.

Seth Rorabaugh

@SethRorabaugh

Per Dan Muse: -Bryan Rust's undisclosed injury will be reevaluated in six weeks. -Justin Brazeau and Sam Girard skated before the morning skate. No updates. -Arturs Silovs is on the hill tonight.

Justin Brazeau and Sam Girard both skated before the morning skate, but Muse had nothing new on either of them. Girard also missed the Utah game. That leaves Arturs Silovs in net against Florida, which is about the only good news here, because he's the guy who has won games for this team in goal so far.

Rust isn't the only forward out. Ben Kindel went on injured reserve Thursday too, after a medical episode on the team's flight home from Utah. With 2 forwards gone, the Penguins recalled Rutger McGroarty and Chase Pietila from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. McGroarty has 9 points in 6 AHL games and 9 points across 32 NHL games, and now he gets a real shot.

Pittsburgh is 3-6-1, 27th in the league, and has lost 4 straight. There isn't an easy way to replace Rust on the top line, so it falls on McGroarty and whoever else Muse tries next to Crosby. If Brazeau and Girard don't get healthy soon, a bad October could easily turn into a bad November.