BOSTON -- After getting a couple of days to recharge physically and mentally while nursing a minor lower body injury, Tuukka Rask and the Bruins got the desired result in his first game back.
The Bruins netminder certainly wasn’t perfect, but he was very good in stopping 31 shots en route to Boston’s last-minute 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden on Thursday.
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The two goals Rask allowed were both on him to varying degrees: He left a juicy rebound that led to the Flyers' power-play goal in the first, and allowed a weak five-hole score on a shot from Jori Lehtera during on a shorthanded rush in the second period. But other than that he was good enough to take care of business against the Flyers, who were playing their second night of back-to-back games.
And it was a welcome improvement for Rask, who had an .888 save percentage in his previous six games and had given up three goals or more in four of those games prior to Thursday.
“It was good," Rask said. "It was sharp. I got into the game early with that power play, saw a lot of shots. I felt sharp
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“I think it’s the same way, you always try to be that, you always try to be there for your teammates and make those key saves. But we’ve gone through a lot this year and through different bodies, and we’ve kind of learned that guys go down and it’s next man up. We don’t really pay attention to that; we play the system and we try to play it the right way. And results will follow and that’s kind of what we’ve been preaching all year. It’s been paying off.”
He was mostly solid on the traffic in front of the net, the rebound control was good aside from that first goal, and he generally looked like the Rask that was so strong in the middle of the season.
“[Around the net front] is where, I thought, he looked like himself again. . . looked sharp in there," said Bruce Cassidy. "He was under control. So, obviously the time off has, probably . . . we talked to him [about] dealing with a nagging injury, but it’s helped him to get back to where he needs to be.
"We’ll see how he recovers tomorrow. That’s probably the best test, to see if he’s sore or just your typical game sore. I thought he did a good job, because Philly is good at . . . getting their bodies in front and getting second chances, and it showed in their first goal.”
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The good news is there shouldn’t be any ready-made excuses for Rask and the Bruins coming down the stretch this season. He's on pace to hit somewhere in the middle of the 55-60 games that Boston wanted him to play this season, and Anton Khudobin has done everything and more that the Bruins wanted in giving their No. 1 plenty of rest during the season.
The last week was probably the last extended breather that Rask will get now that the schedule is hitting its heaviest point of the season. It’s up to himk to build on Thursday night’s solid 31-save night and get back to the level he played at in the middle of the season, when nothing was getting by him without a fight.
That’s the goaltender that everybody expects to see, and needs to see, from this point forth through the rest of the regular season and playoffs. A well-rested Rask should be in the best position possible to deliver that if it’s in him.