TORONTO – Tuukka Rask’s first few moments of the new hockey season won’t be close to his best, but they also illustrate how the Finnish goaltender’s downbeat performance last year might make ultimately make him a stronger player.
The first goal scored against Rask on Thursday night was a shaky one. Alexander Wennberg blew through the middle of the Bruins defense, found a soft spot in their D-zone just over the blue line and then rifled a puck past Rask. The B’s netminder said after the game that the bottom dropped out of the puck on the way to the net, almost like a textbook knuckleball thrown by Tim Wakefield back in the day.
Last season, those moments seemed to compound themselves for Rask and the Bruins and mistakes and Grade A chances would begin a snowball effect that led to high goals-allowed totals and the worst numbers of Rask’s career. The .915 save percentage and 2.56 goals-against average were clearly reflective of a goalie who wasn’t on top of his game enough behind a leaky defense. The Bruins brass is counting on a turnaround this season.
Both Cam Neely and GM Don Sweeney pointed to the goaltending, on B’s media day, as an area where the Bruins need to rebound strongly, and that sends a clear message to Rask that they need the $7 million a year goalie that can steal some games, erase some mistakes and give the players in front of him confidence the Finnish wall will hold.
“Tuukka has a lot of pride in his own game and performance. He wants to be the best goaltender in the National Hockey League. We spoke about it at the end of the year,” said Sweeney. “He took some time at the end of the year to kind of reassess where he was and where he needs to get back to being and lead our team as a result of that. Some of the things he can’t control, he needs to let go and be the player we expect him to be.”
Rask did just that after the first 20 minutes of the opener against Columbus. He rebounded by stopping 21 of 22 shots in the final two periods after locking things down and shutting down point-blank shots by Boone Jenner and Cam Atkinson when things broke down a bit.
There was no frustration-showing body language or dwelling on a softer goal he probably could have stopped earlier in the game. The cerebral side of the puck-stopping game is something Rask said he was working headed into this season after feeling like some of the bad defensive nights from last season wore on him mentally.
Boston Bruins
Rattled is probably too strong a word to describe it, but Rask was undoubtedly frazzled at times by the coverage gaffes and weak play in front of the net that plagued the NHL's 19th ranked defense.
“Every goalie will tell you that they want to be calm and poised out there, but the biggest thing is just stopping the puck as much as you can,” said Rask. “Obviously want to be out there and I want to be the backbone to help us win a lot more games than last year.
“I probably grew from last year and learned from last year that I need to stay strong mentally no matter what happens, and no matter what they throw at you. You just need to stay solid and stay calm. It’s not easy, obviously, but it’s something that you have to learn and grow as a player. It’s something that might play in your advantage in your future because you’ve been through it. Good and bad experiences, you have to learn from them and find a way to grow as a player. So I’m definitely better in that category this year.”
Is Rask somebody that derives greater knowledge from the moments when he’s failed than when he’s enjoyed success in his NHL career?
“Probably. It’s easier to learn when you fail, and it makes you work even harder and get better at it,” said Rask. “When you win, you’re so high on the winning that the learning stays in the background a little more often.”
In some ways Rask failed in the first period of the season opener against Columbus by letting in the wrist shot from a few feet inside the blue line. But Rask and the Bruins didn’t let that bad feeling overwhelm them. Hand-in-hand, the defense and the goaltending grew strong and invulnerable as the B’s star forwards took over the game.
Clearly, it wasn’t perfect, but perhaps it was the first piece of evidence that things are going to be different this season for Rask as he works to get back to the numbers, and quality of play, he’s established throughout his career in Boston.