Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust did all he could to get the puck out of the defensive zone. Unfortunately for him, his approach wasn’t exactly within the rules.
Rust picked up a penalty for closing his hand on the puck after he caught the puck out of mid-air and threw it into the neutral zone.
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Here’s Rule 67:
A player shall be permitted to catch the puck out of the air but must immediately place it or knock it down to the ice. A player shall be assessed a minor penalty for “closing his hand on the puck”:
(i) If he catches it and skates with it, either to avoid a check or to gain a territorial advantage over his opponent;
(ii) If he places his hand over the puck while it is on the ice in order to conceal it from or prevent an opponent from playing the puck;
(iii) If he picks the puck up off the ice with his hand while play is in progress.
The officials caught Rust’s attempt immediately, whistling the play dead and sending him to the box.
“I was so worried about getting the puck out of the zone,” said Rust. “I made kind of a mental error there.”
Pittsburgh was able to kill off the minor penalty and hang on for a 2-1 win.
“Our guys did an unbelievable job killing the penalty there. I definitely gotta thank those guys,” Rust added, before presumably making dinner reservations for the Pens’ penalty-killers.
The Penguins and Islanders are tied 1-1 in their opening round matchup in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Referees for the game were TJ Luxmore (#21) and Gord Dwyer (#19). Linesmen were Matt MacPherson (#83) and Brandon Gawryletz (#64).
