Boston Bruins: Should we be concerned with Tuukka Rask?

Tuukka Rask lost his three starts in a row. Should we worry about the Boston Bruins top netminder?

Tuukka Rask was the best goalie in the NHL through the first month of the regular season, though the same went for the Boston Bruins, in general. He started the year with seven wins in his first eight starts, and he led the league in goals-against average and save percentage.

Rask also had two shutouts, which was tops in the league. He was well on his way to being the Vezina favorite.

With such lofty numbers, the only way for Rask’s play to go was down. Nobody, however, expected things to go down so quickly.

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Rask’s play dipped significantly over his past three starts. In fact, in two of the starts, he was a big reason why the Boston Bruins lost.

He had his worst start of the season in Montreal, as he surrendered five goals in a losing effort. He followed that up with a loss to Detroit, where he have up three goals.

Then there was Tuesday night, when Florida erased a four-goal deficit with four unanswered goals in the third period.

All in all, Rask saw 91 shots in the last three games, and he only saved 79 of them. That’s an .868 SV%, a bad number for any goalie. Especially one with the pedigree of Rask.

Based on his recent performances, should we at all be concerned with Rask?

If this was something new from Rask, there definitely should be some level of concern. But, we’ve all seen Rask go through stretches like this before.

Let’s look back to last season. After Rask won two of his first three starts, he lost three of his next five. The last of these losses came against Vancouver at home, where Rask gave up three goals on only 14 shots.

Rask then missed the next week with an excused absence from the team. When he came back, he told reporters he needed to do soul-searching.

What happened next? Rask eventually got hot, and he was arguably the NHL’s best goalie in the second half of the regular season. He finished the season with a sub 2.50 GAA and four shutouts.

Then, Rask followed this up with an impressive playoff performance. He carried the Boston Bruins all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, where they unfortunately fell in seven games.

Last season wasn’t the first time Rask rebounded from a tough stretch. It seems like every year he goes through something similar. He loses a couple games, lets in some soft goals, and inevitably fans call for a change in net. Eventually, Rask finds his game and proves himself to be an elite starter.

We’re in the middle of one of these bad stretches now. Rask hasn’t been himself over his past few starts, and he’ll be the first to admit. After the loss against Montreal, for example, he joked that the puck was like a beach ball.

Like a beach ball, Rask will bounce back. He always does. Maybe for the time being the Boston Bruins need to ride Jaroslav Halak a little more. But, expect Rask to be himself sooner rather than later.

So, Boston Bruins fans shouldn’t be worried about Rask. Boston still has one of the best goaltending duos in the league, and the duo will be a big reason why the Boston Bruins go far this year.