’Tender is the heart of any Game 7 win
Both Andersen and Rask have had tough times during first-round series
BOSTON— There might be something unique in the makeup of a goaltender’s DNA that makes them want the pressure of a Game 7.
Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen and Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask are cut from the same cloth in that regard.
“Your season’s on the line,” Rask said. “But you can’t let that get in your head, you just have to play the game the best you can and stop as many pucks as possible and give your team a chance to win. You don’t have to worry about pressure any more than that.”
Andersen is 2-0 in elimination games this year.
“It’s just something you all dream of, playing in those big moments,” Andersen said. “You also want to perform, obviously.”
And Game 7 is going to be all about performance.
“It’s going to be huge,” said former goalie Martin Biron, now an analyst with TSN. “I look at Frederik Andersen in Game 6. It wasn’t that he made 32 saves. It was more that he made a lot of good quality saves. That’s what Game 7 is going to be like: At 1-1, who is going to come up with the big save?
“Tuukka didn’t (on Monday night). Andersen did.”
Andersen is 0-2 in his career in Game 7s, both back with the Anaheim Ducks. Rask is 1-2, the sole Game 7 win coming against Toronto five years ago.
Each goalie has been pulled once during the first six games. Neither of their save percentages (.909 for Andersen, .908 for Rask) are close to their regularseason numbers (.918 for Andersen, .917 for Rask).
“I don’t either of them have played great,” Biron said. “It hasn’t been a series where you look at both goalies and say they’ve both been good. There have been a lot of ups and downs.”
Andersen was weak early in the series, but hot in the last two, arguably stealing both Games 5 and 6. In the three games the Leafs have won, he was named the first star each time.
Rask has been spotty, but has been tested less. While the Bruins have dominated the Leafs even in games they’ve lost, Toronto has still managed to keep pace on “high-danger chances,” leading Boston 52-51 over the six games while outscoring Boston 8-6 on those chances.
Though fans in the TD Garden chant “Tuuu” every time Rask makes any kind of save, the Finnish goalie takes a lot of heat on social media and sports talk shows. He’s blamed for Boston not winning the Cup in 2013.
“I think Rask played well, but you see the other guy making save after save and they come down and don’t spend a lot of time in your end and they score, it’s always discouraging,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I’d love him (Rask) to match him save for save. But Tuukka kept us in.”
With what Andersen has done lately — paddle saves, toe saves and glove saves at key moments to big Boston stars — the Leafs goalie seems to be in the Bruins’ heads.
“I think a few of our guys got frustrated,” Cassidy said. “But eventually volume goes in. We saw it in Boston (in Game 5). We got three goals. Unfortunately, we gave up four.”
Whether it’s skill, luck or a combination of both, the Maple Leafs are riding the hotter goalie. In the last four games, Andersen’s save percentage is .934. Rask is at .894.
“It didn’t go very good for him (Andersen) early,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “I’ve never been a goalie, I don’t know what it’s like when you’re in there and you can’t get hit (by the puck). It’s got to be tough being a goalie I would think. “It’s way more fun when you’re in there and you keep getting hit. He’s been good for us all year long and trusts himself. That doesn’t mean, as a professional athlete, at times your confidence doesn’t waver a little bit. He’s dug himself out of where he was in and he’s been akey part for us all year long. No reason he won’t continue to be.”
“I think a few of our guys got frustrated. But eventually volume goes in.” BRUCE CASSIDY BRUINS COACH