After jumping out to a 2-0 first period lead with two goals in the game’s first 7:18, the Bruins appeared to be on their way to their first easy win of the playoffs.
After a Tuukka Rask save hit the protective netting behind his goal with no whistle blown, Artemi Panarin cut the Bruins lead in half after the puck came back into play.
From there Rask was the one saying “not today.”
Can we go back to the whole puck hitting the net thing for a minute?
How amazingly dumb is this?
The NHL is okay with being able to challenge if a skate was a centimeter offside four hours before the puck went into the net, but can’t challenge if a puck did or did not go out of play before going into the net.
What are we doing here NHL?
Of course, the Bruins win in Game 4 makes this less of an issue, but my biggest gripe is with the on-ice officials. How in the world does not one of the four on-ice officials who are paid to watch the puck, see the puck deflect off Rask’s blocker and into the protective netting?
Okay, now that we have that out of the way, back to Rask.
After Panarin’s goal, the ice titled in Columbus’ favor, and the Jackets dominated for the remainder of the period, and most of the second before the Bruins settled back into their game in the third.
As the Blue Jackets sent shot after shot towards Rask, the Bruins goalie stood tall, putting forth one of the best efforts we’ve seen from Rask in a long time.
“Tuukka was outstanding. I thought he fought hard to compete on second chances tonight, especially on that power play in the third period. I thought there were a lot of second chances and they scored some goals like that [in the series] and we’ve got to do a better job in front of him, obviously with clears but I think he really competed hard to find pucks,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy.
In this town, criticism is often thrown towards Rask for not being able to make the big save, or steal a big game when the Bruins need it. Two statements from the anti-Rask crowd that are laughable. But for those who believe this to be true, Rask gave you everything you say he can’t with his Game 4 performance.
Rask stopped 39 of the 40 shots he saw, including a save on Boone Jenner’s shorthanded penalty shot. 26 seconds later, Patrice Bergeron scored—his first of the series—on the power play to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead at the time.
“The penalty shot was a huge moment for our team. It’s one of those things where it’s (potentially) a 1-1 game and it gets the crowd right into it and were scrambling possibly. Things can just snowball from there and he shut the door on that, and one of their hottest players as well,” said forward Jake DeBrusk.
Even though Panarin’s goal gave the Blue Jackets life, Rask didn’t let the goal get to him, even with the five guys in front of him not giving him much help after the goal. Rask admitted he did not see the puck go out of play, and it sounds like that is for the better.
“If I saw it, I probably would have slammed the sticks and chased the refs,” Rask said with a smile after the win. “This day and age, I think it’s crazy. If the refs don’t see it, I don’t know why the league can’t call it. They’re watching the game, right? What if that’s an overtime goal. It didn’t cost us, but I think it’s funny that they can look at a lot of other goals and call them back from the offices, so why not that?”
Much of the talk this series has been about Sergei Bobrovsky who has been absolutely money throughout the entire Stanley Cup Playoffs. But now, it’s time to talk about Rask.
After last night’s performance, Rask and Bobrovsky both hold a .933 save percentage while Rask has the edge in goals-against average 2.11 to 2.13.
"It's about wins at this point of the year," said Rask.
After Saturday’s Game 5 at TD Garden, Rask hopes to hold the edge in playoff wins as well.
Finally a productive night for the Bruins big three
Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak entered Thursday’s Game 4 with just one combined point in the series which came via Pastrnak’s goal in Game 2. Last night, the three combined for five points with two goals from Bergeron and another from Pastrnak.
Pastrnak still had some uncharacteristic mistakes in the win, but his goal, and the assist he picked up on Bergeron’s second of the night looked much more like the Pasta we saw in what was a 38-goal regular season campaign.
“He scored a big goal for us. Hopefully he feels better about his game, those guys responded well, they had a good game,” added Cassidy. “They haven’t been producing, all have had some level of chances to score goals. They get a couple early that always makes you feel good to get those out of the way, give your team a lead.”
Two things needed to happen for the Bruins to turn things around and pick up a win. Both happened in Game 4. They were finally able to solve the Bobrovksy puzzle, and they got production from their big three.
The Bruins hope those two things carry into Saturday night.
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