After all, Roloson entered the Eastern Conference Final leading the playoffs in both goals-against average and save percentage. But things didn’t go as well for the UMass-Lowell product against the Bruins, who drove him from the net twice in the first four games and Tampa coach Guy Boucher opted to start Mike Smith in Game 5.
The Bruins beat Smith as well, and can close out the series Wednesday in Game 6 in Tampa. Facing elimination, Boucher has turned back to Roloson, and hopes the break in the series will help his No. 1 goaltender re-find his form.
“I told him the day of the game that we played in Boston,” Boucher said of the decision to go back to Roloson. “But I knew that before. I knew what my plan was, whatever the consequences were going to be to the game. And his reaction was the same reaction as when I had my talk with him before the game on my decision to go with the other goaltender and give him some rest. And he’s got a big smile because he’s rested.”
Roloson took the benching in stride, relating it to getting a rest during the regular season rather than a punishment for poor play.
“I don’t think any goalie has played 82 games in a row,” Roloson said. “You do it during the regular season, so there’s no difference during the playoffs.
“I think everybody gets rest when you have a day off,” added Roloson, who has allowed 13 goals on 94 shots in the series. “So you take it when you can get it.”
Roloson has excelled in elimination games in the past, posting a 6-0 record in such situations in his career, including three straight wins against Pittsburgh after falling behind 3-1 in the opening round this season. Despite the stakes involved in Wednesday’s Game 6, Roloson insists he’s not treating this game any different.
“To me it’s just another game,” Roloson said. “You can’t really put more emphasis on the game. You just have to focus on your job, your individual job. If that allows your team to win, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a goalie, a forward or a defenseman, you have to focus on the things you can do, the things you can control to help your team win.”
The Bruins will also try to treat Roloson like any other goalie, and do the same things they try to do to be successful regardless of who is in net.
“I think it’s the same thing as any other goalie, getting in front of him, taking his vision away, that makes it hard for him to stop if he can’t see it,” Boston defenseman Dennis Seidenberg said. “For us the main focus is getting people there and getting pucks to the front of the net.”
But there are some differences between Roloson and Smith. Smith is a far better puckhandler, which makes it difficult for the Bruins to beat the Lightning’s 1-3-1 trap with dump-ins, as Smith can quickly retrieve those pucks and start the transition back the other way. Roloson isn’t as effective at that, which is a weakness the Bruins will try to exploit.
“We know that Smith is a great puck handler, and he likes to come out of his net,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “He likes to play the puck. If we didn’t get good line changes, he could make us pay for it. That’s an adjustment you make. And we were prepared for either of them last game. It really didn’t matter. That was their decision to make, but we certainly didn’t put a lot of our attention toward that, just being ready.
“And [Wednesday] knowing that it’s Roloson, I don’t think it changes much in our approach to the game,” Julien added. “But we do know that there’s certain things that we can or cannot do. They each have their strengths and they each have their weaknesses and it’s up to us to exploit those weaknesses.
