Tuukka Rask Was Stupid Good In Overtime And Shootout For Bruins In Win Over Flyers
By Michael Hurley, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- A quick peek at the box score from Thursday night's game between the Bruins and Flyers won't reveal anything spectacular from the home team's netminder. With four goals allowed on just 26 shots, the stats are actually a bit ugly.
Yet that is why the sport is a whole lot more fun than numbers on a computer screen. Because Tuukka Rask was dynamite.
As mentioned, the Flyers had beaten Rask four times in the first 57 minutes of action, with three coming off precise offensive zone passing and one redirecting off a skate in front of the net. If Rask was frustrated by the way things had gone, he didn't show it in overtime.
Instead, he stopped five Flyers shots in the OT period, and once again, numbers don't do justice to those saves.
The doorstep denial of Kevin Hayes was probably his best work:
That stop on Boston's own Kevin Hayes came with 68 seconds left in the overtime, preventing a heartening night for Boston from ending suddenly with a thud. It was a big one.
And really, the full sequence should be viewed for that one, as Rask had to fend off Travis Sandheim, who had blown right past Jakub Zboril for a Grade A chance before setting up Hayes for his own opportunity.
That one was probably Rask's most significant save of the evening. But then again, his rejection of Jakub Voracek from the goalmouth was equally impressive.
Any save in overtime is, quite obviously, significant. So those two stops can go down as 1 and 1A in terms of impact. For his part, Rask was rather matter-of-fact when explaining what went into making those stops.
On Voracek: "He made a good play just trying to tip it in my five-hole, and the rebound was laying there. Just tried to get extended as much as possible, and I think it happened to hit my glove there."
And on Hayes: "You see that develop. The guy was kind of slowing down on the wing and Hayesie was driving the net wide and made a good play. But I just happened to extend my leg there."
All of that, one supposes, is true. Not the most exciting descriptions. But true nevertheless.
Rask also gloved a wrister from the slot off the stick of Claude Giroux, who had sniped the opposite corner over Rask's right shoulder earlier in the game.
That work kept the Bruins alive, and in the shootout Rask was perfect. He made saves against Voracek, Travis Konecny, and then Giroux. That work, combined with Jake DeBrusk's goal, gave the Bruins their second shootout victory of the year.
"Tuukka was there for us," head coach Bruce Cassidy said about his goaltender covering for some defensive miscues in overtime. "He had some tough luck around the net, some back-door plays he had really no chance on. So I thought he played obviously great in the overtime, shootout. Quality chances."
Cassidy added: "Tuukka ... outstanding in overtime and shootouts. He's been lights out in those. So, good for him. Last year we couldn't win one of those to save our lives, and now we're 2-0 in them. So go figure."
It was a night where the Bruins finally broke through with some even-strength scoring, when the Bruins battled back from a 2-0 deficit to start the third period and a 3-2 deficit in the middle of the third period, and it was a night when a third-period bounce off a skate looked like it might have sunk them. But the late work of the goaltender ensured that though this was not the perfect performance from start to finish, it ended the way the Bruins needed it to end.
