Bruce Cassidy Explains Decision To Pull Tuukka Rask In Game 5 Of Bruins-Islanders

For as good as Tuukka Rask has been for the Boston Bruins over the course of their Stanley Cup playoffs run, Game 5 wasn’t his night.

The netminder allowed four goals on 16 shots in two periods, and the Bruins couldn’t get out of that hole as they fell 5-4 despite two third period goals to pull within one.

But Rask never made it out for the third frame, instead replaced by rookie Jeremy Swayman. Head coach Bruce Cassidy offered his reasoning for the goalie change after the loss.

“Yeah, there was some maintenance that needs to be done, he wasn’t 100% so we made a decision,” Cassidy said postgame over Zoom. “And that’s a call we had to make between periods. I’ll just say he wasn’t himself, 100%. Certainly could have went back in. We made a decision not to put him back in.”

Goaltending certainly wasn’t the Bruins’ biggest issue of the night, but the move did seem to change the dynamic of the game. And as Boston heads to New York for Game 6, the expectation is that Rask will reassume his position between the pipes then.

“I assume he will,” Cassidy said, when asked if Rask would be ready to go Wednesday.

Puck drop for Game 6 is set for 7:30 p.m. ET from the Nassau Coliseum. The game will air on NBC, but NESN will carry an hour of pregame and postgame with intermission reports on NESN.com.