Rask went seven straight games without appearing in the Bruins’ crease, then was yanked after just one period on Saturday when he not surprisingly showed some rust against the Sabres. While Claude Julien’s confidence in Rask could justifiably be questioned after that sequence of events, the Bruins coach showed some renewed faith in the 23-year-old goalie when he tabbed Rask to start again in the very next game against the Maple Leafs.
“It’s the same way as usual, just focus on the future and try to do your best out there,” Rask said of his preparation for this start. “Control your emotions and focus on things you can do. That’s pretty much it.”
Rask’s approach worked well, and Julien’s faith was rewarded as Rask stopped 36 of the 37 shots he faced to lead the Bruins to a 2-1 victory. The win closes the books on an impressive road trip, with Boston earning eight of 10 possible points with a 3-0-2 record in the course of their journey across North America.
“It’s something we talked about before this game, to get these points and finish off on a strong note,” Rask said. “It had been a great road trip for us before this, and now we finish it off so it’s good for the team.”
Even better for the team was seeing Rask flash his old form. He looked again like the guy who led the NHL in both goals-against average (1.97) and save percentage (.931) last season.
“I think it’s just showing confidence in Tuukka,” Julien said. “There’s no doubt that we know he’s a good goaltender. The reason I pulled him out the other night is I needed to settle the team down. We looked a little rattled after that first and he was fighting the puck a bit, so I made that decision. But we wanted to show some confidence in him and put him back in net because the schedule is pretty hectic and we’re going to need Tuukka to win some games for us.”
On Monday, Rask got better as the game wore on. He couldn’t be faulted for the one goal he gave up in the first when Mikhail Grabovski scored on a breakaway created by a bad Boston line change, but Rask was fighting the puck and giving up rebounds at times in the early going. He settled down the longer he stayed in, leading inevitably to thoughts that he may have been able to do the same on Saturday if Julien had stuck with him after allowing three goals on 16 shots in Buffalo.
“It’s always good to have a chance to bounce back,” said Rask, who was named the No. 1 star on Monday after improving to 3-7-1. “I didn’t think I was awful in Buffalo, but I definitely wasn’t at my best. It helps to get a good game like this and get the two points for us.”
After stopping 10 of the 11 shots he saw in the first period, Rask didn’t face a lot of pucks in the second when Boston outshot the Leafs 17-8 and scored both of its goals as Nathan Horton and Marc Savard each ended scoring droughts. But in the third Rask was clearly the difference in the game.
Toronto carried the play throughout the period, outshooting the Bruins 18-9 as the Leafs desperately tried to get the equalizer. Rask made sure they didn’t, as he denied all 18 of those bids. He collected half of his 36 saves in that frantic final 20 minutes, and even managed to impress his coach in the process.
“[I’m] very impressed,” Julien said. “It’s a matter of him finding his game. We knew how good he can be because we’ve seen it before. He’s had a tough start to the season and a lot of nights he didn’t get the breaks that he should have had and probably should have more wins. Nonetheless, I think it was important what he was going to do tonight, and he came in there and really helped us win a hockey game.”
