we wanted to see how ready he was,” Julien said. “I thought he did a great job, he certainly gave us a chance when he was in net.”
Despite all the hub-bub of coming in during the middle of the game, Turco said he felt good on the ice.
Though he did admit that it was a bit of an adjustment from the Olympic-sized sheets he was playing on while he was in Austria.
“Every minute I felt a little bit better, a little bit more comfortable,” he said. “It’s all a little different, a change of scenery. Just becoming a little bit more accustomed to it is the goal, making saves will probably help with the mental game. ”
Perhaps the highlight of Turco’s night came with the save he made on Jordan Staal in the second period.
Stall broke loose along the boards and snapped a shot at Turco, who made an astounding acrobatic back-rollsave to keep the puck out of the net. A save of such of the likes to leave no doubt our goalie had his head in the game, along with the rest of his body.
Turco said that saves like that are easily lost in the heat of a game, but will help cement his confidence with the team over time.
But for Bruins captain Zdeno Chara and the rest of the team, a save like that was pivotal for the whole team’s drive and vitality.
“Any time a goalie makes a great save, it gives energy to a team and it kept us in the game,” Chara said.
“I thought he was really good, he made some really big saves for us. He’s such an experienced goalie, and you could see he handles the puck really well, making nice plays and helping on breakouts.”
Turco finished out the game and made 20 saves, and allowed two more goals as the Penguins beat the Bruins 5-2 at the Consol Energy Center.