Penguins right winger Bryan Rust did not participate in practice Sunday at Cranberry because of an undisclosed injury.
Rust was injured in the 2-1 overtime road win Saturday against the Nashville Predators. He was struck on the right hand or arm by a slap shot from Predators defenseman Seth Jones at 2:48 of the second period and left the game.
Coach Mike Johnston did not have a diagnosis but suggested Rust’s injury could be long term. “Rust is going to be out,” he said. “We haven’t determined a time frame on it but he’s going to be out. It’s not going to be day to day. I should have a probably better time frame on it in the next day or two.”
Rust has appeared in five games this season with no points.
Defenseman OK
Defenseman Brian Dumoulin momentarily left Saturday’s game for a medical examination after he was boarded by left winger Austin Watson at 5:25 of the first period. Dumoulin, whose face hit the glass on the end boards in the Penguins zone, returned after missing a handful of shifts and finished the game.
He felt little in the way of aftereffects from the hit less than 24 hours later. “Obviously, it’s a little stiff just from the whiplash. But the tests were fine. After, I wasn’t seeing stars. I’m feeling fine right now.”
Dupuis killing penalties
After missing the first six games of the season, Pascal Dupuis has been a regular on the penalty kill in his first two games. Logging 4:27 of short-handed ice time over that span, Dupuis has been on the ice for the first shift on four of six penalty kills the past two contests.
“It’s great to be the first guy over the boards,” he said. “[The coaching staff] counts on me to do the job. It’s good. When you’re away from the game for so long and you come back and you’re counted to preform a certain role, a certain job on the ice, it’s something you can look forward to and be proud of and take pride in to do the best job you can.”
“Pascal is just such a good skater that he gets up the ice quick,” Johnston said. “Sometimes on the penalty kill, disrupting the flow of their breakout is really important if he can get up ice quick like he does. We put him out on the first part of the penalty kill, come off then he goes out as [part of] the third group. So he can play some back-to-back stuff there on the penalty kill. And I just though his energy has been really good.”
Tip-ins
Left winger Bobby Farnham was placed on waivers. If he clears by noon today, he can be assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. He did not participate in practice. In three games this season, Farnham has no points and five penalty minutes. … The Penguins have a scheduled day off today.
Seth Rorabaugh: srorabaugh@post-gazette.com and Twitter @emptynetters.
First Published: October 26, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
