Two U’s, two K’s and one heck of a return.
Tuukka Rask, who had missed three straight games with an undisclosed injury, made his triumphant return in net Saturday for the Bruins, and he stopped everything the Detroit Red Wings sent his way in a 1-0 win at Joe Louis Arena.
Here’s a recap of Bruins-Red Wings.
NO RUST HERE
It sure didn’t look like Rask lost a step after missing three games due to injury. In fact, he turned in arguably his best performance of the season.
Rask finished the night with 24 saves, including seven right away, in an impressive all-around first period for the entire team, despite a goalless 20 minutes for both squads.
And this stat more than any shows just how important Rask has been.
Unfortunately for the B’s, though, Jimmy Howard also came up big in net on the other end of the ice. He finished with 35 saves.
OFFSIDE? NO THANKS
The only replay-worthy moments for most of the first two periods were saves. But Tim Schaller changed that 17:11 into the second frame.
Schaller fired one on net from almost behind the goal line, and the puck somehow got past Howard to put the B’s up 1-0.
It looked like the referees would take the goal off the board, though, as they went to replay to see if the Bruins were offside when entering the zone. But after a lengthy review, they ultimately called it a good goal.
It probably was only a matter of time before the Bruins finally broke through, as they outshot the Red Wings 18-8 in the second frame. They finished the game with a 36-24 advantage in shots.
POWER-PLAY WOES
It didn’t end up costing the Bruins, but they once again had a night to forget on the power play. The B’s, who entered Saturday’s game with the worst power-play percentage in the league at 8.3, failed to take advantage of any of their four man advantages.
But the good news for Boston is it held Detroit to an 0-for-4 night on the power play. Its final kill came in the closing minutes after Brandon Carlo was called for boarding with 1:13 remaining.
UP NEXT
The Bruins’ four-game road trip now will shift to Florida, where the B’s will face the Panthers on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. ET, followed by a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday.
Thumbnail photo via Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports Images
