On Sunday afternoon, that's just what Tuukka Rask did when he spun a 36-save shutout over the Canadiens at the Bell Centre.
The rookie netminder was lucky he passed through customs Sunday night because that win was grand larceny as the Finnish goalie stole his team their first win since Jan. 14.
“You look at the way he’s played and technically he’s been pretty sound,” a relieved Julien said. “Even in the last two games he got us a point. The reason we didn’t get two points was because we didn’t do our job offensively. And he’s been good. Right now we’re at a stage where you’ve got to go with the goalie that’s playing the best. And right now he’s playing the best. We know what Tim [Thomas] can do and Tim will be there at some point, there’s no doubt. But right now I think Tuukka’s done a pretty good job.”
For the second straight game, the Bruins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. While they crumbled beneath a Vancouver comeback on Saturday, there would be no collapse on Sunday because “The Rask Behind The Mask” (as SportsDesk anchor Cole Wright likes to call him) was not going to allow it.
The Habs came out flying in the second period and out-shot the Bruins 15-3 in the middle frame but thanks to Rask, who made many big stops that period including one on Habs leading scorer Tomas Plekanec on a breakaway, they went into the third period still up 2-0.
“First and foremost, Tuukka was phenomenal. He really, truly did steal the game,” said winger Blake Wheeler who got into his first NHL fight Sunday. “We were up 2-0 in the second period and our team struggled a bit getting pucks in, and we turned over a lot of pucks and he made a lot of game-saving saves for us. Right there, that was where the game was won, with Tuukka being on his A-game.”
The more saves Rask made, the more frustrated the Habs became.
The Bruins, of course, can relate to this after Capitals goaltender Jose Theodore (41 saves on Tuesday), Habs netminder Jaroslav Halak (45 saves on Thursday) and Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo (41 saves on Saturday) all took away two points from the Bruins.
A team feeds off a goalie when they can come up huge and that’s just what the Bruins did Sunday and what they have needed to do since their last win when Thomas made 41 saves and stonewalled the Sharks in a 2-1 shootout win on Jan. 14.
“Me and Timmy have the same mindset every game. No matter if you get 15 shots or 30 shots, you still want to be the same,” said Rask. “Timmy showed in San Jose — he really stole [that] game for us.”
Sunday it was Rask and based on that performance and strong showings in his previous two starts, it may just be Rask attempting to commit more robbery until the Olympic break.
