TORONTO, ONTARIO – It was slightly surprising to see Tuukka Rask not in the lineup for a Saturday night game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, but Claude Julien revealed postgame that his No. 1 goaltender is dealing with an injury situation. It doesn’t appear to be anything serious with B’s coach saying Rask was “a little bit sore” after the B’s dropped a disappointing 4-1 decision to Toronto at the Air Canada Centre, but it was enough to keep him out of the crease against the Leafs.
"Tuukka is a little bit sore,” admitted Julien following the loss. “Khudobin was scheduled to play one of the 3 games on the trip, so because of [Tuukka’s situation] we decided to play him tonight"
Instead Anton Khudobin allowed three goals on the first seven shots that he faced, and didn’t look good at all while being under siege by the speedy, skilled Maple Leafs attack just a couple of minutes into the game. The B’s backup netminder finished with 20 saves on 24 shots in a subpar effort in his first appearance back in a Bruins uniform, and admitted afterward he never felt settled into the game until it was too late.
“My start wasn’t good. It was a little frustrating, I would say,” said Khudobin. “In the second period, I started to find my game. But it was a hard game, to be honest. I just have to do my job pretty much.”
It appeared that Rask tweaked something in his leg while extending to make a save in the comeback win against Columbus on Thursday night, and that would explain why the Finnish netminder was absent from Boston’s Friday practice at the MasterCard Centre in Toronto.
Julien said following Saturday night’s loss in Toronto that he didn’t know for sure whether Rask was going to be able to get back between the pipes Monday in Winnipeg for the final game of the three-game road trip.