The Boston Bruins were outshot by the Capitals 41-19 during Sunday’s Game 5 but were still able to eliminate Washington behind a series-clinching 3-1 victory.
And while Patrice Bergeron scored two goals in the win, it was Tuukka Rask who was most deserving of the Star of the Game.
“He’s unbelievable,” David Pastrnak said of Rask during his postgame video conference. “As soon as the second goal, that was disallowed, went in I knew it was going to be interference because it’s just incredible, he’s never out of position.
“So he’s been standing on his head this series and we’re obviously lucky to have him behind us,” Pastrnak said.
Rask, as he had been all series, was exceptional Sunday night. He never was, as Pastrnak noted, out of position and it made the 41 shots on Rask appear much less challenging than they should have been. He concluded the five-game series with a .941 save percentage and while he allowed 10 goals to the Capitals, the majority of those were deflected or tipped in front of the netminder.Â
“Tuukka worked hard to see pucks, and I think we worked hard to push bodies out of there so he could see pucks,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said on a postgame video conference.
Cassidy specifically noted how Sunday felt different in the sense that Washington wasn’t going to be able to beat Rask with a lucky bounce because he was so locked in.
“You almost felt tonight they were going to have to beat Tuukka clean,” Cassidy said. “… 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.”
Rask and the Bruins will have some time off before their next series, which they’ll certainly enter with confidence given how their goaltender has played thus far.
