The Boston Bruins wrapped up 2017 with a dominating 5-0 win over the Ottawa Senators, finishing out their red-hot month of December with a 10-2-2 record.
And as hot as the B’s have been, goaltender Tuukka Rask is on a completely different level.
The Bruins star netminder was absolutely brilliant during the final month of 2017, going 9-1-1 in December while helping Boston vault to second place in the Atlantic Division.
Rask was at his best to close out 2017, as he stopped all 25 shots the Senators sent his way Saturday, and he now has allowed one goal or fewer in eight of his last 11 starts.
But Rask was quick to give the credit for Boston’s impressive month to the team as a whole after Saturday’s win.
“No, I think we’re playing as a team,” Rask said, as seen on NESN’s Bruins postgame coverage. “That’s the biggest thing, just very happy to see, you know? We took over the game. Their chances came early, that’s it. We scored, we scored more and we always play the same way, that’s great to see. I think, going ahead, that has to continue because that’s going to reward us in the future.”
Bruins star Brad Marchand knows how important Rask’s play is to the team’s ultimate aspirations and noted how the goalie’s hot play boosts the rest of the team.
“We know that he’s going to give us a chance to win every night and he has lately,” Marchand said of Rask. “When you have a good goalie and a hot goalie, it’s tough to beat teams like that so it gives us a ton of confidence to play in front of him and make plays, and have him there to back us up.”
Rask struggled at the beginning of the season, but he has been lights out during his last 12 starts, making the Black and Gold one of the league’s most feared teams as the calendar turns to 2018.
Here are more notes from Bruins-Senators:
— The Bruins have outscored the Senators 10-1 this week.
— Boston is 11-1-2 in its last 14 games against the Eastern Conference and 6-1-2 against the Atlantic Division on the year.
— The B’s now have the fourth best goal differential in the league at plus-20.
