Tuukka Rask Misses Bruins Practice For 'Maintenance Day,' Dealing With 'General Soreness'
BOSTON (CBS) -- Tuukka Rask has turned in two strong performances in a row for the Bruins, but at times he has looked tentative or moved gingerly making saves. It's been speculated that he's nursing an injury, but head coach Claude Julien termed it "general soreness" when he spoke to reporters on Friday.
Rask sat out the Bruins' practice session on Friday at Warrior Ice Arena. The team tweeted that Rask is taking a "maintenance day" as he recovers from soreness that he's felt since last Thursday's season opener in Columbus. Julien updated reporters after practice, saying "The general soreness [Rask] had last week is still there."
When asked after Thursday's home opener if anything specific was bothering him physically, Rask casually responded, "No ... there's always something." When pressed with a follow-up he said, "There's always a little somethin'-somethin'."
Rask and Julien clearly do not seem concerned about whatever Rask is dealing with, whether it's general soreness or something specific. It certainly hasn't affected Rask's performance in the past two games.
The one goal Rask allowed on Thursday against New Jersey looked bad but can be chalked up to unfortunate "puck luck" in favor of the Devils. New Jersey's Kyle Palmieri faked a slap shot into a hard pass, which careened off the skate of Brandon Carlo and snuck between Rask's pads. Rask said he was anticipating the pass and not the deflection.
"I was just starting to push off because [Palmieri] kind of slap-shot-passed across, and [it was] just one of those nothing-you-can-do things," said Rask. "He was passing across and I started to kick that way and next thing I noticed [the puck] was in the net. ... Tough bounce."
Rask has a good test ahead of him if and when he ends up between the pipes against the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday at the Garden. Rask is just 5-15-3 in his career against the Canadiens with a 2.69 goals-against average and .909 save percentage. He will likely stare across the rink at Carey Price, who just returned to the net for Montreal on Thursday night against the Arizona Coyotes, making 27 saves in the Habs' 5-2 win.