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Rask carries Bruins past Rangers despite shaky defense

February 11, 2021, 11:20 AM ET [9 Comments]
Anthony Travalgia
Boston Bruins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
In the final minute of the third period Wednesday, Tuukka Rask booked it for the Bruins bench. It was a scene we’ve seen many times during Rask’s tenure in Boston. Down by a goal, pulling the goalie, extra attacker, yada, yada, yada.

However, this time the Bruins weren’t down by a goal, or even two. They were, you know, tied 2-2.



“I just had to tell something to Jaro [Halak] really quick,” Rask joked. "I honestly thought we were down, 2-1, that's it. Thought we were down, 2-1. I was waiting for [head coach Bruce Cassidy] to wave me over there, I was like, 'why the heck is he not?' A minute and a half left and he's not waving me, I just decided to come when we had the puck. I think Chuckie [Charlie McAvoy] told me, 'Buddy, it's 2-2.'"

Rask should have been more aware that it was a 2-2 game, he was a key reason behind it.

“We weren’t very good in front of [Rask]. I think it was probably the toughest night our D corps had. We weren’t crisp with the puck. We had a pair that fought it all night. We did make some plays, but as a whole, that group looked their age tonight,” said Cassidy. You could tell, it looked like we hadn’t played in a while.”

Rask stopped 33 shots in the win, some of those you’ll be seeing on highlight reels for the rest of the season. His second period stop on Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad topped them all.



It was a struggle defensively all night for the Bruins, both in the neutral and defensive zones. The Rangers finished the night with a 4.58 expected goals for rate in all-situations, a clear indication of how well Rask played in the win.

“Just stretched out and made that save. That’s one of those where you’ve got to get lucky in order to be good,” Rask said of his save on Zibanejad. “In that instance, I got a little lucky.”

Rask’s big night kept the Bruins in the game as they got goals by Chris Wagner shorthanded and Anders Bjork before Brad Marchand ended things in overtime.

"That's one thing that we do really well. Even when we're not at our best, you can tell we weren't, we didn't play very well tonight - we just have that attitude where we pick each other up, we don't get down on each other,” Marchand said. “Always trying to help each other out and we get through things together."

The Rangers were around Rask and the Bruins goal all night, generating 11 high-danger scoring chances with Rask stopping all but one.

It was the first time in 12 games where the Bruins young defense showed their inexperience, luckily Rask was there to pick them up.

Had Rask’s last-minute blunder cost the Bruins two points, we’d be singing a different tune this morning. With Wednesday being Rask’s best performance of the season, as well as his biggest blunder to date, it’s a night his teammates won’t let him forget about for a long time.

“He’s gonna catch some heat for that,” Marchand said with a smile.

“If anyone’s supposed to not be sleeping in the game, it’s supposed to be your goalie. But he made a lot of big saves tonight. He gets a free pass on that one.”
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