The Boston Bruins need Tuukka Rask back in the net, and they needed him back yesterday. While Rask is going on the three game road trip with the team, will he be ready to play soon?
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Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask has had a good start to the 2016-17 season. He’s 3-0-0 with a 1.67 goals against average and a .947 save percentage. He’s been one of the pleasant surprises for the Black and Gold so far this season.
There haven’t been many good ones. Without Tuukka Rask, the Bruins have yet to win a single game. The B’s have allowed in 18 goals in four games and the combined save percentage of Anton Khudobin, Zane McIntyre, and Malcolm Subban is below .900.
Rask is currently dealing with “general soreness”. It has been plaguing him on and off since the second game of the season.
“It felt good in Winnipeg. In Toronto, it didn’t feel good. It wasn’t comfortable,” Rask admitted. “Then did treatments for a couple days and felt good. Kinda on and off situation. It’s difficult to really do anything with it than take a long time and let it heal, but that’s not a real possibility.”
Will Tuukka Rask be ready this weekend? The Bruins deseperately need their number one netminder and a win. At the moment, the only bright spots for the B’s have been their second and fourth forward lines, their top defensive pair, and Rask. Now the B’s will be without their top goal scorer David Pastrnak, who earned himself a two game suspension for his high hit on Dan Girardi.
“Getting closer and closer,” said Rask on his current condition. “It’s good enough that I feel comfortable skating and being out there, so that’s a good sign.”
Rask has spent the last two days on the ice with Bruins goaltending coach Bob Essensa. Today was his first day back in full practice. While this is considered a good thing for the Bruins, he may not be ready for Saturday night.
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According to Bruins bench boss Claude Julien, he’ll be the backup goaltender during the road trip.
“He’s good enough to practice, and he’s good enough to at least backup right now,” said Julien to the media about Rask.