Boston Bruins counting on Tuukka Rask to continue dominating – NHL Playoffs
Winning the Stanley Cup back in 2011 required a lot of patience from the Boston Bruins side, as they counted and depended on veteran goalie, Tim Thomas. The next year was quite disappointing, as Boston failed
to impress but back in the Eastern Conference Finals, they have a new face leading the net and hopefully, it will be repeated without Thomas.
One thing that Boston was worried about when Tim Thomas announced to take the 2012-2013 National Hockey League (NHL) Regular Season off was that they would have to find someone else to fill in that huge vacuum
in net. Luckily, everything has worked out beyond their level of imagination so far, as previously backup goalie, Tuukka Rask, is not playing on any lower level than Thomas’.
"It's more, it's kind of weird, because [sometimes] you finish up a series and you think you're going to have three days off and you don't. You're still emotional and ready to play," Rask said. "But then you
get three days off, four days off, you kind of just feel like it's training camp, we're just practicing here. But it obviously isn't.”
Rask was a dominating force against the New York Rangers in the semi-finals, where Boston knocked them out clean in just five games. Rask had an amazing .936 save percentage and 1.86 goals-against average against
the Rangers. If he can keep that up against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Boston should not have much difficulty in moving to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second time in three years.
"Tuukka's been our most consistent player all year long," center Chris Kelly said. "Right from Day One right through the playoffs. He's been there to make the big saves when we've needed him to, and obviously
we wouldn't be here if not for the play of [Tuukka]."
Rask was picked up as the 21st overall back in round-one of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs and has been with the Boston Bruins throughout his career in the major league.
After five seasons of being a backup, Rask finally has the spotlight on him and a chance to prove that he is Boston’s next Tim Thomas.
Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins play Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Saturday, June 1 at 8 PM ET.
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