Tuukka Rask: Embracing the Spotlight

 

The past few years, playoff goaltenders have had to be nothing short of superhuman to win their team the Stanley Cup. Two years ago the Bruins had their own superman in Tim Thomas; last year was the impermeable Jonathan Quick. Goalies can steal a playoff series or an entire run to the Stanley Cup, and have been doing so for the games entire history. Sawchuck gives up 5 goals in 8 games in ’52, rookie Ken Dryden shutting down the big bad Bruins en route to the cup in ’71, Bernie Parent taking the mid ‘70’s by storm, Hextall in ’87, Ranford and ’90, Roy dominates to get his last cup in 2001, even Cam Ward in 2006; hockey playoffs can be won and lost on the goaltenders performance.

The Boston Bruins struck gold on their run to the 2011 Stanley Cup championship, as journeyman goaltender Tim Thomas went from quality regular season starter to a name atop that playoff hero list in mere weeks. The Bruins had put together a solid team and suddenly had an all world goalie to back; with the Cup win in ’11 there was hope for a nice run at a few more with the lineup at hand. But after the 2012 post season Thomas did the unthinkable. He walked away. He gave up on a championship caliber team. The man behind the mask, always unpredictable whether on or off the ice, lived up to his reputation. This move would have crippled many, if not most teams. Just think, the Rangers without Lundquist? Kings without Quick? Detroit without Howard? The Stanley Cup could go from in reach to unrealistic in moments. Not for the Bruins though. Waiting in the wings for the past few years has been Tuukka Rask, bred since trading for him in 2006 to be the next starting goalie, ready to shine and make us forget what we lost in Thomas.              

Tuukka Rask has put his stamp on his first true NHL starting role (not counting his extended time in 2009 after a Thomas injury) and quite a stamp at that. The past three seasons we’ve seen flashes of brilliance from Rask, and he gave the Bruins organization and us fans confidence that at the end of Thomas’ career Rask could fill the void. Well that end came sooner than anyone expected, but Rask continues to calm the nerves of even the most pessimistic of Bruins fans.

Tuukka had a great 2013 regular season. Seemingly the fairest way to judge goaltender performance is save percentage, as goals against average and wins are swayed more by the team playing in front of the goalie than save percentage, and Tuukka landed himself 3^rd in the NHL behind Craig Anderson and Sergei Bobrovsky, and 2^nd if you leave Anderson off the list because of his smaller sample of games played, leaving Tuukka only behind the Vezina candidate Bobrovsky. Rask wasn’t able to land in the final three of the Vezina vote, but don’t be surprised if his name is on that trophy in the next few years if his play is remains at this level.

 

While regular season play is well and good, and Rask played with the best of them, it’s essentially meaningless if you don’t produce in the playoffs. We had seen Rask in the playoffs before and it was a bittersweet memory at that. First, we remember him dueling against the hottest goalie in the league, Ryan Miller, and coming out on top. But with the good comes the bad, and we may as well be honest and call this one disastrous. After boosting his team to a 3-0 series lead against the Philadelphia Flyers, the Bruins, Rask included, fell apart at the hinges and lost the series in historic fashion. Rask was young, he was unseasoned, he hadn’t had experience with a playoff run, heck he hadn’t even watched a long playoff run from the bench.  Three years later Tuukka Rask gets his chance to show his true colors; the team is his now, he’s done his time as back up, watched a cup win from the bench and learned how to deal with the pressures.

We know he is a good goalie, but is he a great one? Is he the big game goalie that we need to win and one that we lost in Thomas? As of now, yes, he is. Tuukka Rask has battle his way to now 12 playoff wins, and has played masterfully in the process. Boston played poorly in front of Tuukka in series one; he was imperfect but bailed the B’s out time and time again and allowed them to (somehow) pull out a round one victory. Round two Tuukka has to face off against Henrik Lundquist, called by many the best goalie in the NHL, and Rask outplayed him. It wasn’t perfect, the “butt stumble” in game four may have cost them the game in addition to bringing a lot of the Tuukka doubters back into the spotlight, but his solid play in game five was more than enough to help the B’s close out the Rangers.
 

It was the series against the Pittsburg Penguins in the Eastern Conference finals that silenced any remaining doubters, and he shut them up quickly. Games one and two he was good, he only allowed 1 goal in two games to a team that came into the series with the highest playoff goals a game average since the great 80’s Oilers teams. The Bruins played great and Tuukka made the saves behind them. Game one he shut out a Pittsburg team that hadn’t been shut out once in the playoffs or regular season.

It was game 3, however, that really solidified Rask as a big game goalie and launched him to the top of the Conn Smythe trophy conversation as playoff MVP. Rask stopped 53 of 54 shots over the course of almost 5 full periods, and gave the Bruins a chance to win the game, as they finally did with 4 minutes left in double OT. Unlike games 1 and 2, where the Bruins dominated and Rask just had to be good to win, The Penguins outplayed the Bruins for much of the game and it was Rask’s great play the essentially won them the game. Rask rounded out the series with another strong performance in game 4, shutting out the surging Penguins for the second time in four games.

 

Rask did the unthinkable in this third round series, he shut down the best offense in the entire league. He gave the Bruins a chance to win every game, all the while putting up otherworldly numbers: a .44 goals against average and a .985 save percentage. Rask stymied everything the Pens threw at him, and kept the Bruins in each game, especially in games 3 and 4 as the Penguins turned their play up a notch.  

Rask is everything that Thomas wasn’t; he is calm and poised in the net, level headed, always in position, and a good guy to have on your team. Is Tuukka Rask an elite goaltender? Well maybe this is where he is similar to Thomas, because through three rounds this playoff season he is now 12-4 this post season, with a 1.75 GAA and a .943 save percentage.  How about that for elite. His play has put him in place for a substantial raise this offseason, a problem that the Bruins are happy to have, as they have found a franchise goaltender they can lean on to take them to the Stanley Cup finals.