How Tuukka Rask’s Cough Led To Blinking Red Lights, Quarantine And Missed Game

It’s never good when your starting goalie comes down with an illness, but when it happens in the middle of a global pandemic inside a carefully constructed bubble, it’s going to set off alarms — literally.

The Boston Bruins expected to have Tuukka Rask start their playoff opener Sunday, a round-robin game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Toronto. But Rask missed practice Saturday and then didn’t even dress Sunday, as head coach Bruce Cassidy indicated the Vezina Trophy finalist was feeling under the weather.

Well, Rask was back on the ice for practice Monday, apparently after having to quarantine inside his hotel room in Toronto. Rask explained he had a bit of a cough that led to his isolation.

“I had a cough, so I clicked ‘Yes’ on the (self-reporting health) app, and all kinds of red lights started blinking and I was quarantined for two days,” Rask explained. “They wanted to do two negative tests after that, and that’s it. Now I was back today.”

Obviously, the NHL — which announced Monday that there have been zero positive tests since Phase 4 began in the two bubbles — is operating with an abundance of caution.f

“Yeah, I just think they want to be very cautious of that,” Rask said. “If there’s any symptoms because obviously if you happen to test positive — meanwhile, you’ve already spread it around for who knows how many guys, but yeah, I’ll be ready to go.”

Rask said he’s still battling the cough, but the negative tests gave him some peace of mind. Meanwhile, he’s hoping he’ll be physically fit and ready to go Wednesday when the Bruins take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in their second of three round-robin games.

“It wasn’t easy to lay in our bed a couple of days being quarantined, but you’re just trying to catch up and get your legs back under you and get ramping up again. A couple of more games round-robin and I feel confident the next few days I’ll be back to normal.”

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