Goucher's Confidence In Rask Unfazed After Poor Debut In Sochi
BOSTON (CBS) - Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask gave up four goals on just 20 shots for Team Finland in their first game of group play against Austria - not exactly a team loaded with superstars.
Finland still got the 8-4 win, but Tuukka's poor play leading up to the Olympics coupled with his awful debut outing should give B's fans a cause for concern.
Dave Goucher, however, is not worried.
"Are you concerned about Tuukka Rask?" Fred asked Goucher Friday morning.
"Not a lot Fred, I'm not. I didn't see much of the Finland game except for the highlights, and a couple of those goals I didn't think there was much he could do. I think it was the second and third ones they were a bit flukey in front of him.
"I know where you're coming from, because there's been times especially over the past five, six weeks where he's been shaky for the Bruins. But if you look at his whole body of work he's been very good - he really has. I think as you move forward you just hope he can be the guy that you know he can be, the guy that took them on a deep playoff run last year," said the Bruins play-by-play man.
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Even though Dave Goucher's confidence in the 26-year-old is unfazed he thinks the Bruins will have to give the backup goalie more starts down the stretch run of the regular season.
"I also think they're going to have to rely on Chad Johnson a fair amount as they get back here to playing 24 games in 44 days to end the regular season, and I think they have 8 back-to-backs, so if they can give Rask some breaks in their schedule that'd be great."
Finland is considered to have the best goaltending trio of any team in the Olympics with Rask, Antti Niemmi and Kari Lehtonen.
Goucher thinks it'll be interesting to see how Finland handles the starts going forward. He thinks they'll try Niemmi and Lehtonen in their next two games and ride the hot hand after that.
Listen below for the full discussion:
Dave Goucher: Confidence In Tuukka Unphased
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