Tuukka Rask was scheduled to start Saturday’s contest in Arizona, his first since Monday’s ugly 5-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

But Rask was a late scratch, forcing Linus Ullmark into action, Ullmark’s second straight start.

“[Rask] came out of his last start and felt a little something,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy. “He thought he’d be fine for the trip. That’s what he indicated to us, but not as much a few days later. It didn’t come around as much as he would have liked.”

With the Bruins out in Arizona Friday and a stop in Dallas scheduled for Sunday before they return home, the Bruins were left scrambling a bit. Troy Grosenick was recalled from the Taxi Squad and Jeremy Swayman was a late scratch in Providence.

Even though Rask has not been ruled out for Sunday, Swayman is expected to join the Bruins in Dallas for Sunday.

“We haven’t ruled [Rask] out for anything. We’ll see how he is tomorrow. We’re going to practice. We’ll see what his availability is,” said Cassidy. “If he’s not available and doesn’t feel like he’s going to be available Sunday or Tuesday we’d have to look at Swayman.”

With Rask struggling both on and off the ice, Ullmark has performed well. Well enough to call himself the team’s No. 1 goalie?

I think so.

His 31-save performance in the Bruins 2-1 victory over the Coyotes was further evidence of which direction Ullmark is heading in.

"Linus' job when he's in there is to give us the best chance to win as possible. Should not really matter anything else that's going on around him, to be honest with you. We made a commitment to him, he made a commitment to us. That's the way I look at it,” said Cassidy.

When Rask is back to full health and finally able to shake off the rust he’s shown since his return from off-season hip surgery, it’s expected he challenges Ullmark for the No. 1 goalie spot, but if these last few weeks have taught us anything, it’s that Ullmark has settled into his game.

“[Ullmark] certainly played well enough [Friday]. It was a lot of work. I’ll have to check to see how he is [Saturday], but his game was excellent,” said Cassidy. “I thought he did a real good job.”

After what I thought was a mediocre start to his season, Ullmark is playing well for the Bruins. With or without Rask, he’s certainly made the Bruins goalie situation more interesting.

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