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Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask has lacked a lot of things this season, namely consistent offensive (and defensive) support, but on Saturday afternoon, the 28-year-old netminder added water to that list. Forced to depart what finished as a 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers just 20:10 into the game with dehydration symptoms, Rask left as an eventual winner behind a relentless three-goal first period against the Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist first start in 25 games.
Milan Lucic kicked (puns absolutely intended, by the way) with his 16th goal of the season on what looked to be a clear kicking motion through Lundqvist and into the back of the net. But with the call going to Toronto, the goal counted, forever changing how I understand the term ‘kicking motion’.
Lucic continued his scoring ways with his second strike of the game less than eight minutes later, with Torey Krug creating the opportunity with a net-front drive, a common in his game of late.
Boston center Carl Soderberg extended the Boston edge out to three with a breakaway strike, his 12th goal of the season, just a five minutes later, as the B’s held a 3-0 edge after one.
That lead jumped out to four just 5:53 into the second, with Reilly Smith, beginning in his own end, capitalizing on a great swarm in front of the Ranger net for his 13th of the year.
With Rask out of the game, the Blueshirts found the back of the net twice on Niklas Svedberg, with goals from Rick Nash (his 40th) and Matt Hunwick (his 2nd), but in a game that was all Boston, the talk surrounded the status of the reigning Vezina and the B’s MVP.
“He’s fine,… B’s coach Claude Julien said of Rask. “It looks like it might’ve been a case of dehydration, so he’s scheduled to travel with us, and he should be fine for tomorrow.
“We just found out at the beginning of the second. [Rask] went in there and when he came off that’s why I went to him said, “Are you still having those symptoms?… He said “Yeah… so I said “Well, let’s get you out of here and put [Niklas Svedberg] in,… who did a good job by the way.…
With the victory, and an overtime loss for the Senators, the Bruins jumped back into control of the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, and gave themselves a bit more control of their fate.
And in a 72-hour stretch where the Bruins have gained three of a possible four points against undeniable heavyweight opponents in the Anaheim Ducks and Rangers, the B’s look like a team that is finally starting to wrap their heads around the gravity of their postseason situation.
“The whole team is kind of in that [playoff] mindset right now,… admitted Dennis Seidenberg. “We have to win hockey games, we’re in that position where we have to play solid hockey, try to avoid being scored on a lot. We try everything to try to win hockey games, so I guess you could say so, yeah.…
Random thoughts and notes
- In a game that I honestly looked at as a schedule loss, though the Black and Gold always seem to play the Rangers strong at home, the B’s were all over the Rangers, really. Although it was a competitive first, the Bruins’ ability to jump on a rusty Lundqvist undoubtedly took the Blueshirts out of this one.
And their defensive game wasn’t too bad, either.
“I thought we played with the puck. We did a good job of holding onto it,… Boston defender Torey Krug said. “Could have been better at times for sure, but they weren’t able to get their speed going because we held onto the puck in the offensive zone and even in the neutral zone we were able to turn those pucks over and get them going back the other way fast and that helps.
“Our system is a positive thing for this team and when we’re playing the right way, there are layers and guys are where they’re supposed to be and everybody knows where everyone is. So we’re forced to play good hockey right now so it’s nice to get a result for sure. We got to bottle this up and use it tomorrow.…
- With about a minute left in the third period, the Bruins finally had a backup at the end of their bench. Wearing a sans nameplate No. 70 jersey and a ballcap, you couldn’t help but wonder just who the hell the Bruins found off the street to put into pads with that little time remaining in the game. The answer? B’s goaltending coach, Bob Essensa. The 50-year-old Essensa had not played in an NHL game since Mar. 4, 2002, and the Black and Gold were probably happy that that streak stayed intact.
“What a joke,… Julien, who lived dangerously with just one goalie in gear for nearly two full periods, laughed. “He didn’t even have the equipment here. He was just trying to look good.…
I just hope this all leads to an Essensa vs. Robbie Tallas goaltending duel on Tuesday night in Boston.
- Boston defenseman Adam McQuaid has undoubtedly regained some of his snarl of late, and was a physical force once again in the win. But that has a price, and McQuaid paid that on a cheap, late butt-end to the face from New York bottom-sixer Tanner Glass.
Glass was fined $3,897.85 for the incident, the maximum allowed per the collective bargaining agreement, and McQuaid was seen in the B’s locker room sporting one nasty gash above his eye.
Up next
The Bruins will head to Carolina for a Sunday battle with the ‘Canes. The Bruins and ‘Canes have split their season series thus far, and Carolina comes into this one with a two-game winning streak (and points in six of their 10 games), and with 17 wins in 38 home games this season.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com