Tuukka Rask picked the perfect time to play a quintessential Tuukka Rask game.
The Boston Bruins goalie stopped 40 of 41 shots Sunday night as Boston closed out its Stanley Cup playoff first-round series over the Washington Capitals in five games.
Despite the high shot total, Rask never seemed under siege. That's because he seemingly was in perfect position for every Capitals shot attempt and was exemplary with his rebound control. Rask's best work came in the second period when the Capitals really upped the pressure. Washington peppered the Boston netminder with 20 shots, and he stopped them all, while the Black and Gold scored a pair of back-breaking goals on just four second-period shots.
"He just seemed very composed in there and very sure of himself and it makes it easier for everybody when you see a goalie completely under control and it looks like they're not going to get a pea by him," Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said after the game.
Rask was fantastic for the entire series. He got better as the games went on, and even the goals he did allow, it wasn't by large fault of the goalie. Rask posted a .941 save percentage over the course of the five-game series, and seven of the 10 goals he allowed were deflected or tipped in front of him. That doesn't include Tom Wilson's Game 1 goal which came after Charlie McAvoy broke his stick.
Here are some other notes from the Bruins' clincher Sunday night.
-- Your best players have to play their best in the biggest game. When he's healthy, Patrice Bergeron typically does just that, and Sunday was no different. The Bruins center was an absolute menace, scoring a pair of goals, displaying his wide range of ability on both tallies.
The first was a gorgeous wrist shot from the slot in which Bergeron picked a corner and beat Ilya Samsonov to open the scoring. The second displayed his dogged determination, as he picked T.J. Oshie's pocket in front of the Washington net before uncorking a wicked wrist shot for the back-breaker at 12:25 of the third to give the B's a 3-1 lead.
For Bergeron, the heroics are nothing new, of course.
"That's why you play the game," Bergeron said. "It's just the adrenaline and the feeling you get is always special. This time of year, it's always fun to be a part of it and stay in the moment. You've gotta enjoy yourself and can't put too much weight on your shoulders."
-- Special teams, especially the penalty kill, was a focal point entering the series. The Capitals owned the No. 3 power play in the league during the regular season, cashing in on 25 percent of their chances. The Bruins took an uncharacteristic amount of penalties, including some head-scratchers like multiple too many men on the ice infractions. The B's made up for it with stellar penalty killing, limiting the Caps to just three power-play goals on 21 chances.
"We talked about that before the series where they're a great power play," Bergeron said. "They kind of had our number in the way of PK all year. ... We knew we had to come up big. We could maybe do a better job of staying out of the box, but I thought every time our PK was out there, it gave us momentum to carry on with the game, so it was great to see."
-- Jarred Tinordi really has paid off for the Bruins. Boston claimed the former first-round pick off waivers back in late January. He has played sparingly, especially in the last month or so, but he always seems to make his opportunities count. Most notably, he has used his massive 6-foot-6 frame to move bodies around, and he was more than willing to get physical Sunday night. He might be crucial moving forward, as he'll likely be in the lineup until Kevan Miller returns -- if that even happens at all.
-- Speaking of shrewd D-man moves, the deadline pickup of Mike Reilly was a great one by general manager Don Sweeney. After contributing eight points in his 15 regular-season games with the B's, Reilly wasn't as much of a factor to start the series. That changed Sunday night where he was noticeable just about every time he stepped on the ice. Reilly had two assists, his first points of the series, and made a nice play in the third period to break up a scoring chance for Oshie.
-- Rounding out the D-man discussion, how about Charlie McAvoy? He continues to prove himself as one of the NHL's best defenseman. He logged more than 25 minutes of ice time in each of the Bruins' four wins, chipping in with four assists, putting 10 shots on net and skating to a plus-4. He's a legitimate horse and is only getting better.
