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If the Boston Bruins are a legitimate threat in the Eastern Conference at any point this season, it will be because of the play of goaltender
Tuukka Rask. You appreciate the other ways the Black and Gold can and have won over the last half-decade -- from a deep lineup up front to a stout defense -- but it’s painfully apparent that when push comes to shove, it’s their goaltending that needs to thrive.
When you look at Boston’s woeful start to the season, it was goaltending that was letting them down.
And when I say that, I don’t necessarily mean that it was Rask himself that was the reason why the B’s were losing. But it was an awfully slow start to the year for both the revamped and younger B’s defense and No. 40 himself. And when that happens, you’re going to lose more than you’re going to win.
But as time has gone on, with the Bruins hanging around the middle of the Atlantic Division in the middle of the November, the 28-year-old Finnish phenom in the Boston crease has looked more and more like the league elite goaltender fans in the Hub have come to chant with echoing admiration.
Look at last Saturday’s 3-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings, a game in which Rask stopped all but one of Detroit’s 23 shots and came up about five or six big stops on his own, as your latest example.
That performance came within a week of a straight-up stellar 36-of-37 showing against the New York Islanders -- and though Rask had a 27-of-30 game against Colorado sandwiched in there -- Rask is undoubtedly working his way into his first real groove of the season. It’s a welcomed sight.
“He’s had some good games. I think right now we keep looking back at some average games, but he’ll find his game,” B’s coach
Claude Julien said after their win on Saturday. “I’m going to be backing him and supporting him all year long, because I know what kind of goaltender he is. When things go bad, that’s when you support your goaltender. That’s when you show trust in him, and we’ve shown trust in him because we know he’s going to help us win games like he did tonight.”
Over his last seven appearances, Rask has four wins and a .928 save percentage. His lone poor start over that stretch, in my mind anyway, was that 14-of-19 disaster against the Dallas Stars on Nov. 3. (Then again, find me a Bruins player that looked good in that game. Loui Eriksson was the only one.)
“I’ve felt good,” Rask, whose save percentage (.896) is still looking to bump over .900, admitted. “Sometimes you have tough times and sometimes you have good nights – more good than bad.”
It just doesn’t seem as if Rask has to constantly stand on his head for the B’s to win games.
“There are nights where I have to make big saves and play really good. [But] I think a lot of times we go hand-in-hand with the guys. I look good when the team looks good and vice versa,” Rask said of his play and the team’s confidence. “[Saturday] is a great example, first two periods we take their speed away in the neutral zone, keep them to the outside and block shots, they had 13 shots through two periods. It’s just a great group effort, it helps me a lot when that happens. Obviously some nights are tougher than the others. We just have to understand when that happens we stick together and we really keep the game simple and then we’re going to get even more results. I think that’s where it’s at.”
And Rask’s return to his elite status -- reshaped Boston defense or not -- shouldn’t shock anybody.
In 2014, Rask began the year with an .899 save percentage month of October. He followed that up with a .935 in November. In the lockout-delayed 2013 season, Rask’s first month of the season, though it had results (a 4-1-1 record), was followed up with a .951 month of February. Even before his days as a start, Octobers had been notorious slow for Rask, with a .906 in three games in Oct. 2011 before bumping things back up to his ‘norm’ with a four-game, .932 month of November.
This year, an .889 month of October has been followed up with a .907 November.
That latter figure should continue to rise, too. So long as Rask and his defense continue to roll.
“We want to get the wins,” Rask said. “But you also want to feel good about the wins.”
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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