BOSTON — The Bruins cannot rely on No. 1 goaltender Tuukka Rask to play every game listed on March’s grueling schedule.
Boston plays 15 games in a 26-day span, including four back-to-back sets and 11 matchups with teams currently in the playoffs or against teams chasing the B’s for a postseason berth.
Backup goaltender Niklas Svedberg will be forced into action and must be able to give the Bruins a chance to win without Rask having to replace him, which has happened in two of his last five starts.
Svedberg’s latest start was in Sunday afternoon’s 5-3 victory over the Detroit Red Wings. He made 36 saves on 39 shots for a .923 save percentage, but a soft goal against scored by Red Wings forward Luke Glendening early in the third period was cause for concern.
B’s head coach Claude Julien wanted to give Rask a full day off, but putting him in the game if needed was an option. Luckily for the Bruins, Julien never had to make a change.
“Well, I’m gonna be honest with you, I’m not gonna say that it didn’t cross my mind,” Julien said. “At one point there you look at the score and say, ‘Well, if something happens maybe I gotta make a tough decision.’ But I really wanted to commit to Sveddy there.
“At the same time, confidence-wise it’s important for him to finish the game. Sometimes you gotta, not take a gamble, but calculate a gamble and say, ‘You know what? I have confidence he’ll do the job ‘til the end.’ And he did.”
Svedberg’s ability to enter the lineup and help the Bruins win games when Rask needs a rest is not only important to the team’s chances of reaching the playoffs, but also its hopes of making a deep run in May and June.
Rask is on pace to play 72 games, which would shatter his previous career high of 58 set last season. Goaltenders who play in 70 or more games rarely enjoy playoff success. In fact, 32 goalies have played in 70-plus games since the 2004-05 lockout and just six of them have taken their team past Round 1.
Rask already has appeared in 54 games this season, four behind Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals for the league lead. Netminders with the heaviest regular-season workload since the 2005-06 campaign have averaged a .885 save percentage in the playoffs.
| Year | Goalie | GP | Playoff Result | Playoff SV% |
| 2013-14 | Kari Lehtonen | 65 | Lost Round 1 | 0.885 |
| 2012-13 | Ondrej Pavelec | 44 | Didn’t Qualify | N/A |
| 2011-12 | Pekka Rinne | 73 | Lost Round 2 | 0.929 |
| 2010-11 | Cam Ward | 74 | Didn’t Qualify | N/A |
| 2009-10 | Martin Brodeur | 77 | Lost Round 1 | 0.881 |
| 2008-09 | Miikka Kiprusoff | 76 | Lost Round 1 | 0.884 |
| 2007-08 | Evgeni Nabokov | 77 | Lost Round 1 | 0.907 |
| 2007-08 | Martin Brodeur | 77 | Lost Round 1 | 0.881 |
| 2006-07 | Martin Brodeur | 78 | Lost Round 2 | 0.916 |
| 2005-06 | Roberto Luongo | 75 | Didn’t Qualify | N/A |
Rask has been a very good playoff goaltender with a career .930 save percentage in 47 games. He’s capable of taking the Bruins on a lengthy run despite the team’s struggles defensively this season, but for that to happen, he needs to be as fresh as possible entering Round 1.
Svedberg can help make that happen by providing reliable goaltending in his backup role.
“There’s a lot of pressure on a guy who hasn’t played much,” Julien said. “He won us a game in Jersey, he won us a game again (Sunday) and that’s all we can ask from a guy like that who hasn’t played much. … But he made some big saves and I have to understand — or we have to understand — that in order to get through this we’re gonna need our backup goaltender to come up and play some games for us and not rely too, too much on Tuukka.”
Thumbnail photo Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
