When the Boston Bruins signed veteran goaltender Jaroslav Halak during the offseason, the move not only was to provide an adept backup but also someone who could push starter Tuukka Rask.
Suffice to say it didn’t take long for Halak to give Rask a nudge.
Halak has been playing out of his mind to start the season and has taken over as the starting netminder for now. It’s not uncommon for Rask to get off to a slow start — he even did the same thing last season — but Halak is playing so well that head coach Bruce Cassidy has no choice but to call upon the latter.
After starting in Monday’s win over the Dallas Stars after two games on the bench, Rask readily admitted the Bruins needed to ride Halak.
“The schedule hasn’t been crazy and Jaro has played unbelievable, that’s how it goes,” Rask said, via a team-provided transcript. “If you’re a hot goalie like that, then you got to let him play, I totally get it, it hasn’t affected me mentally really that much. You just try to practice hard and feel that rhythm and feel the puck in practices, when you’re playing try to put your best out there and get the wins. It’s going to be a busy week this week, so I think both of us are going to see a lot of action so go day by day, just practice hard when asked to.”
As Rask mentioned, the B’s are about to embark on a busy stretch, playing four games in seven days beginning Thursday. Because of that, both goalies will have an opportunity to showcase what they can do. In doing so, they should provide a refreshed picture as to who deserves to be the top dog in net.
