Well that certainly wasn’t what Bruins fans had in mind. After having won six of seven, Boston headed to Montreal to take on the Canadiens and were sent home badly beaten. The 5-1 romp by the Habs reminded all Bruins fans that no matter how good either squad is in any given year, you know you’ll get your rival’s best game. The Bruins rebounded from the lackluster performance to crush the Maple Leafs 7-2 on Saturday with Savard posting a hat-trick, Bergeron tallying two more assists, and Rask stopping 31 of 33 shots against his former team to improve to 8-2-2 on the season.
Looking back at the Rask-for-Raycroft swap, the Bruins seem to have pulled off quite the steal. Following the trade to Toronto, Raycroft had his contract bought out and is now the backup in Vancouver. Rask, on the other hand, has quickly ascended the ranks to become one of the NHL’s top statistical netminders, and clearly his teammate, Zdeno Chara, appreciates his contributions.
“I think we all knew that, even last year. He played a few games. Obviously playing in Providence, he was the No. 1 goalie, and now he’s playing extremely well for us. It’s nice to have two solid goaltenders who can basically steal the games for us. The both of them, even Timmy , they are playing extremely well for us. That’s great for us.”
At only 22 years of age and under contract for two more seasons, Rask is ensuring that the Bruins will remain one of the stingier teams in the NHL, something they will have to be after trading away Kessel, coincidentally, to Toronto this past offseason (that is unless they continue their solid power play offense of the last few weeks). Either way, with Timmy and Tuukka, Boston always has a chance.