Cassidy’s decision makes it clear there is no “goalie controversy” for the Boston Bruins
By Dan Watkins
The Boston Bruins take on the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. If you haven’t been living under a rock, you know that Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov are dominating right now. Interesting decision made by Bruce Cassidy.
Boston Bruins Head Coach Bruce Cassidy made the announcement we’ve been waiting on for the past 24 hours: Tuukka Rask will be between the pipes when the team welcomes the first place Tampa Bay Lightning to the TD Garden Wednesday night.
"“He hasn’t played a lot lately, Anton has,” said Cassidy. “It’s been well-documented, Khudobin’s been playing well. We’ve got to get Tuukka’s game to where he’s good with it and playing well. The best way to do that is get him starts.”"
Rask is just 3-8-2 with a .899 SV% and 2.91 GAA this season. But Cassidy and his staff know that if the Bruins are to make the playoffs and make some noise come playoff time, they need the Vezina Trophy winner to get into the groove and right the ship following his early season struggles.
If there was a true “controversy” in net for the team one would think Anton Khudobin (7-0-2, .932 SV% 2.32 GAA) would get the nod against the Lightning who have the league’s top two leading scorers in Steven Stamkos (10-26–36) and Nikita Kucherov (17-18–35) since he hasn’t played since Friday against the Penguins.
Now, there is no denying Khudobin has played better this season, and was in net for each game of Boston’s recent four game win streak, but he did show some vulnerability to Pittsburgh, who like Tampa Bay boasts some of the league’s best offensive firepower, allowing goals to Phil Kessel and Sidney Crosby (questionable goal I know).
Khudobin plays a much more aggressive game than Rask, which has contributed to his success thus far, but I suspect things to level out here for both goalies as we advance further into the season.
Other Morning Skate News
Brad Marchand (undisclosed) and David Backes (colon) are going to suit up against the Lightning. Neither players’ activation is too surprising after skating full contact back-to-back days now, but I still can’t get over how quickly David Backes has returned to game action. Backes had 10 inches of his intestine/colon removed less than a month ago due to an ongoing bout with diverticulitis. He was expected to miss eight weeks. There’s tough, then there’s hockey player tough, the veteran forward epitomizes that.
As was announced yesterday, Ryan Spooner (groin) will play tonight after missing Sunday’s game against the Oilers. David Krejci (upper body) and Jake Debrusk (upper body) have both been ruled out.
Anders Bjork (upper body) skated for the second straight day, although wearing the red non-contact jersey, has been deemed a “possibility” for Saturday’s matchup against the Flyers. He is “progressing well” according to Cassidy.
Adam McQuaid (broken leg) skated before practice this morning for the first time since breaking his right fibula back on October 19th. There has been no update to his original eight week time table.
Morning Skate Lines:
Brad Marchand – Patrice Bergeron – David Pastrnak
Danton Heinen – Riley Nash – David Backes
Frank Vatrano -Ryan Spooner – Noel Acciari
Matt Beleskey – Sean Kuraly – Tim Schaller
Zdeno Chara – Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug – Brandon Carlo
Matt Grzelcyk – Kevan Miller
Tuukka Rask
Anton Khudobin