Boston Bruins Earn Win Without Tuukka Rask
The Boston Bruins went 23 games where the only goaltender who could get them a win was Tuukka Rask. On Thursday night the Bruins finally ended that trend.
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Boston Bruins goaltender Anton Khudobin has had a rough early season. He had suffered a less than spectacular start to the season. He had to battle through an injury, and ended up losing his first three starts as the B’s goalie. Even his conditioning stint in Providence looked unimpressive.
Khudobin almost got his first win against the Calgary Flames last Friday. Unfortunately, the Bruins couldn’t muster enough offense to offset the two goals let in. The Bruins almost repeated that mistake on Thursday. The Bruins allowed a defensive lap that gave the Hurricanes a rare 3-on-0 chance on the Bruins goaltender.
A literal last-minute goal by Torey Krug saved the game for the B’s and Khudobin.
Khudobin ended up stopping 29 out of 30 shots and held the Hurricanes to only one shootout goal. That made the difference in the B’s 2-1 victory. After the game, the team didn’t focus on Krug’s last second heroics. They focused on how their Khazak goaltender stole a game for them.
“He deserves a lot of accolades tonight, the way he played,” said Claude Julien of Khudobin’s play. “The way he responded after being out such a long time. I think the fact that he went to Providence and played some games there really helped him get back on track and tonight he showed that he was ready to play.
“He made some big plays for us…solid in the shootout. You couldn’t ask more from him and there’s no doubt that there was a lot of confidence that grew in that dressing room by watching his play and knowing that we have two goaltenders that can play extremely well for us.”
“We definitely gave them some life and some chances, some odd-man rushes, a couple breakaways, and he saved our behinds a few times,” said Bruins defenseman Torey Krug of the missed opportunities that almost cost the B’s the game.
When it came to Anton Khudobin though, Krug was nothing but positive about the Bruins backup goaltender.
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“When he was seeing the puck like he was tonight, he’s a hard goalie to beat and he earned that win for us.”