BOSTON – There was plenty of merriment and jokes made at the sight of Tuukka Rask quickly exiting the ice 10 seconds into the second period with what appeared to be some kind of bathroom emergency, or sudden case of the flu striking. Then there was eyebrow-raised concern when Rask never returned for the rest of the second period, and it became clear he wasn’t coming back into the game after Boston had built a 3-0 lead in the first period.
As it turned out Rask wasn’t needed with Niklas Svedberg holding down the fort for the final two periods in a 4-2 win over the high-powered Rangers at TD Garden, and the Finnish goaltender was diagnosed with “a case of dehydration” just like his Red Sox pal David Ortiz. Claude Julien didn’t seem very concerned about it after the fact, and it sounded like Rask will be available for Sunday’s game against the Hurricanes in Carolina.
Rask walked through the B’s dressing room following the game as the team readied for the trip to Carolina, and looked perfectly fine with Bruins PR director Matt Chmura walking alongside him.
“He’s fine. It looks like it might have been a case of dehydration, so he’s scheduled to travel with us. He’s scheduled to be with us, and he should be fine for tomorrow,” said Julien. “We just found out at the beginning of the second [period].
“He went in there and when he came off that’s why I went to him and said, ‘Are you still having those symptoms?’ He said ‘Yeah’ so I said ‘Well, let’s get you out of here and put Sveddy [Niklas Svedberg] in,’ who did a good job by the way.”
Rask made 14 saves all in the first period while protecting a three goal lead, and then Svedberg stropped 16-of-18 shots for the Black and Gold after getting pressed into emergency duty against the Eastern Conference’s best team.
“You’re always going to get a bit of a heartbeat jumping in like that from sitting on the bench, but you’ve got to try to stay calm, and stay within yourself, and focus on your game,” said Svedberg. “That is all I can do and play like it like any game. Don’t think too much about it.
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“You get into the game as fast as possible. The guys helped me out a lot in the beginning, gave me some time to work myself into the game, and I thought after that we played a solid game throughout and I felt good too…so good win for us.”
The cherry on top of the goaltending sundae for the Black and Gold?
Bruins goaltending coach Bob Essensa was suited up in his equipment and at the end of the bench in the closing seconds of the third for any emergencies with Svedberg, and the 50-year-old was part of the postgame team handshakes on the ice after last appearing in a game for the Buffalo Sabres back in 2002.