It had been two years, nine months, and 23 days since Tuukka Rask last squared off with the Philadelphia Flyers. 1,030 days ago to be exact, but hey who was counting?

Seemingly haunted by the second round collapsed that’s been the headline of his still young NHL career, there’s no doubt that speculation came with Rask’s perceived ‘hiding’ from the Flyers since that fateful date, May 14, 2010.

Well, if we're to believe all the nonsense about Rask's first showing versus Philly since 'the Choke', consider Saturday the perfect return for Rask and the Black-and-Gold.

"It’s in the past and as I’ve said before we won the whole thing the year after," the 25-year-old Rask said of the victory and any 'revenge' meaning it had for himself. "Things happen in hockey and for a goalie if you start thinking that certain match-ups are better for you than the others then you’re lost half the battle so it was just a game like any other."

Stopping all 23 shots thrown his way by a high-flying Black-and-Orange attack, Rask's 'redemption' isn't really redemption at all, but rather the continuation of a 2013 campaign that's undoubtedly settled him in as the Bruins' MVP.

In 17 games this season, the Finnish netminder has left a winner in all but five, with three of those losses coming in overtime. He's allowed no more than two goals in all 12 of those wins, and his .927 save-percentage is good for fifth in the entire league, and his 1.97 goals against average has been a pillar of the club's success in 2013.

Crisscross: Caron versus Bourque
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Halfway through the season, fans in the Hub finally got a chance to see the third line they had anticipated at the beginning of the year. Subbing Chris Bourque out for the third-year pro Jordan Caron, the switch (back) to the National Hockey League seemed to bring the best out of the 6-foot-3 Caron while the switch back to the American Hockey League undoubtedly benefited the minor league journeyman Bourque.

Coincidence? Don’t be silly.

At the end of the day, this is the reality of the Caron & Bourque situation; One of them is a bottom-six talent in the NHL today, and the other is not.

Credited with the primary assist on Chris Kelly’s goal on Saturday, Caron brought the size and effort that the Bruins’ lackadaisical third line has missed out on in 2013. Bringing a much needed ‘fight’ capability for those nasty battles along the boards and in the corners, the 22-year-old Caron excelled in his first NHL game in 10 months, and seemed to put the doldrums that haunted him during a turbulent 2012-13 AHL campaign behind him.

“It’s his strength to go to those areas, but you know, the way we play the game, if the puck’s on the one side and he happens to be along the wall, somebody else has to go to the front,” Claude Julien said of the 2009 first rounder’s play. “It’s about sharing all of those duties. He just brought an element today – personally, I thought he had a real good game, and so did they.”

Unlike what many have believed to be the case, I don’t think that you’re seeing Caron with the big league club on for ‘showcase’ purposes as a prelude to any trade the B’s may make to bolster their seemingly top-heavy forward core, but rather the club’s decision to.. you know.. actually give him a chance to produce with the Black-and-Gold.

Of course, it’s no secret that Caron struggled with the P-Bruins this year -- recording just 10 goals and 15 points in 44 games -- but at what point was it a self-doubting issue more than anything else? As I’ve said countless times, Caron’s got the skill-set to be a great contributor to the Bruins’ bottom-six when his confidence is there, and on Saturday against Philadelphia, it was there. “[Caron] skated well, he was on the puck, he was forechecking,” Julien said following the win win, adding, “They were pinching pretty hard down 3-0, and I thought he was pretty solid along the wall in our own end.”

Going back to his last 21 games at the NHL level, Caron has four goals and seven assists, with a plus-4 rating and 37 hits credited to his name.

Now, this isn't to completely bash Chris Bourque's four-point, 18-game tenure with Boston.

Clearing waivers and demoted back down to the American Hockey League, the return to Providence ice seemed to bring the best out of the 27-year-old Boxford, Mass. native. Skating in all three weekend contests for the P-Bruins, Bourque continued a solid season with the Bruins' minor league affiliate, tallying another three points (all assists), giving him eight goals and 31 points in 35 games this season. Bourque, while not the greatest fit for the Bruins' third line, is however, a great guy for the developing PB's to have on their roster, and will always be considered an option if an injury strikes the Bruins' NHL roster.

Call it the norm though as Bourque's a very good minor leaguer that's better off logging top-six minutes there than bottom-six in the NHL, while Caron is the complete opposite.

Could Boston be interested in a 'Cat?

Interesting tidbit from the Ottawa Sun this past weekend...

It appears as if the Florida Panthers, at the bottom of the Eastern Conference with just seven wins and 20 points in 26 games, could be in the market of unloading some salary (and talent) off their books as the league's trading deadline draws closer.

It's honestly no real surprise that GM Dale Tallon is in dire need of unloading a plethora of bad contracts signed two years ago to meet the league's rising salary cap floor, but with time of the essence and the B's reportedly interested in bolstering their forward core, could a fit be found for a 'Cat in Boston?

Of course, the Bruins' biggest fit, Stephen Weiss, is (theoretically) off the market thanks to his season-ending wrist injury, but that's not to suggest that the Black-and-Gold wouldn't have interest in dealing with the Panthers once again. As you can recall, the Bruins have dealt with Florida before, and with great success, acquiring Dennis Seidenberg (and Matt Bartkowski) from the Panthers at the '10 deadline, and adding Gregory Campbell and Nathan Horton a few months later.

But who in Florida red would pique the Bruins' interest?

There's no doubt that Kris Versteeg, despite injuries that have kept him out of a combined 17 games this year, presents the Bruins with a potent scoring threat on the wing. Tallying 24 goals and 57 points in a combined 80 games with Florida, the 5-foot-10 winger's biggest asset comes with a proven track record of postseason success. A member of the Blackhawks' Cup winning roster in 2010, and skating with the Flyers and Panthers in playoff action, the 26-year-old has a whopping 14 goals and 37 points in 57 career playoff games.

Yet, there's a major issue when it comes to adding Versteeg, Tomas Fleischmann, or even the Panthers' injured top-sixers Sean Bergenheim and Scottie Upshall to their roster at the deadline: They're not really rentals, and all of them come with inflated contracts and additional years on their contract.

Whether it's Versteeg's $4.4 million cap-hit from now 'til summer 2016 or Fleischmann's $4.5 million price-tag or Upshall's $3.5 million 'til 2015, adding such a talent to the roster will only complicate the Bruins' already somewhat cloudy cap-future given the league's dwindling salary cap coming this summer.

In theory, of course. At the end of the day, the Bruins could move assets to acquire the aforementioned talents and proceed to use one of the league's compliance buyouts on 'em this summer, but that'd ultimately seem like a waste of the traded pieces, forcing the Bruins to set their sights elsewhere on a truly bizarre Florida roster.

So, how about Peter Mueller?

Plagued by concussion issues that have limited him to just 127 games since the start of the 2009-10 season, Mueller is on his third team in four years, but has been a solid contributor for Florida in 2013, tallying six goals and 12 points in just 26 games. What makes adding the former eighth overall pick so appealing beyond the obvious skill-set that's there when healthy, however, is the Minnesota native's affordable and appealing contract, on the books for this year only with a modest $1.725 million cap-hit, something that'd allow the Bruins to add other pieces or re-up the pending restricted free agent at year's end if they're to lose Nathan Horton due to his (perhaps) out-of-range price.

Just a thought, of course.

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