Bryan Rust scored the Pittsburgh Penguins’ first goal against Philadelphia Monday night at PPG Paints Arena, and later added an assist in what became a 7-3 victory.
That gave him 11 goals and 14 assists in 33 career games against the Flyers.
Those 25 points are his second-most against any opponent — Rust has 31 in 37 games against New Jersey — and, while he competes fiercely against every opponent, beating Philadelphia seems to be particularly satisfying for him.
Even though the rivalry isn’t as ferocious as it has been for long stretches in the past, sharing a slab of ice with the Flyers rarely is just another one of the 82 regular-season games.
“It’s always fun beating teams like Philly,” Rust said. “There are a few other teams that fall into that category. … Obviously, the guys who have been around here a long time know that rivalry a little bit better. It goes way back, so it’s definitely fun.”
Travails of travel
NHL teams travel in style, jetting around the continent on charter flights and staying in elite-level hotels.
That isn’t the case at other levels of the game, where the salaries, per diems and travel budgets tend to be considerably more modest.
Penguins rookie defenseman Owen Pickering, who was playing for Swift Current in the Western Hockey League at this time last year, is keenly aware of the differences in accommodations and how clubs get to and from road games.
“We were doing five-hour (bus) trips the day of games in Swift (Current),” he said recently. “So this is a dream, for sure.”
The Broncos’ longest trips, he added, spanned about 22 hours, when they went to cities in the Pacific Northwest.
Where is everybody?
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ NHL-record streak of 633 consecutive sellouts ended more than three years ago, and capacity crowds no longer are the norm at PPG Paints Arena.
The announced attendance, which reflects tickets in circulation, sometimes appears considerably greater than the actual turnout, which means that while the team is getting the revenue from tickets being sold, patrons opting to stay away translates to a loss of income that would come from things like parking and concessions.
And the arena isn’t the only place where a dip of interest is reflected.
Crowds for practices at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex have been decidedly smaller than in previous seasons, with large tracts of the bleachers empty most of the time.
It will be interesting to see what kind of turnout their workout Friday at noon attracts, since many people are off work and most schools are closed for a holiday break. And if the Penguins manage to build on the 9-3-1 run they took into the break, attendance at games and practices figure to rise.
Different sport, same story
The Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t the only professional team owned by Fenway Sports Group, whose holdings include the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool of the English Premier League.
FSG’s soccer team is dealing with an issue similar to one the company had with the Penguins not long ago: Whether to retain an aging star who still is capable of performing at a high level.
With the Penguins, the players in question were Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby (although keeping Crosby never was in dispute). With Liverpool, the subject is goal-scorer extraordinaire Mo Salah.
Salah is 32, an age at which many soccer players are past their prime, but heading into the EPL’s heavy slate of Boxing Day games, Salah led the league in goals (15) and assists (11) and was the only player in double-figures in both categories.
He has expressed interest in remaining with Liverpool and the club would like to keep him, but their sometimes-contentious negotiations have yet to yield an agreement to follow the three-year, $54.6 million one scheduled to expire next summer.
Assuming the contract details get worked out, FSG officials could face a final challenge — forging a legal document that includes enough space for Salah to sign with his full name, which is reported to be Mohamed Salah Hamed Mahorous Ghaly.