Rask sees he’s one to blame in loss
PITTSBURGH — In stark contrast to his predecessor, Tuukka Rask has never hesitated to give himself a good thrashing for poor play. He was in good form last night after the B’s 6-5 overtime loss to the Penguins, though not all of his word choices are printable here.
“I was horse (bleep) all day and all night,” said Rask. “I felt like (bleep). I didn’t see the puck, wasn’t sharp. So, weak goals.
“It was just one of those nights where you’re not feeling as sharp as usual. Against a team like this, which is going to create some scoring chances, that’s probably not ideal.”
Rask didn’t think his team looked past Pittsburgh to its mini-vacation, which starts today.
“You don’t want to get ahead of yourself,” he said. “You’ve got to battle through one game and try to get the win. I just wasn’t my sharpest.
“They’re always dangerous when they’ve got the offense going. They’ve got so much firepower up front. They can score goals . ... pretty entertaining game.”
Shot down
After he was hauled down on a break-in by Pittsburgh defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, Bruins forward Brad Marchand had a chance to win the game on a penalty shot with 1:01 left in the third. Marchand skated in on backup goalie Matt Murray, who replaced Pittsburgh starter Tristan Jarry late in the second period, tried a forehand feint/backhand to the 5-hole. Marchand thought “for sure” it was going to work.
It didn’t.
“When I pulled it to my backhand it kind of got stuck in the snow a little bit,” Marchand said. “There was room there. I just missed it.” . . .
With 30 seconds left in the first, Patrice Bergeron went down hard after blocking a Kris Letang slapshot with his right knee. Bergeron was barely able to get off the ice, and it had to be a relief for many that he returned after the intermission and finished the game.
“Obviously you don’t want to see a guy hobble off,” said coach Bruce Cassidy. “He was able to finish the game, so clearly he’s going to come out of it OK. But anytime you see one of your high-end players go down it’s always worrisome. But it turn out OK.”
Said Bergeron: “It was more than it hit the nerve on the leg. It was a little hard to put weight on it, especially early in the second. It got better as the game went on.”
Rookie learns ropes
Matt Grzelcyk found himself back alone facing a clear Pens 2-on-1 early in the second, with Sidney Crosby coming in on the left with the puck. Grzelcyk played it well, waiting until Crosby tried to pass across to linemate Daniel Sprong and reaching out to block the puck off to the side.
A few minutes later, Sean Kuraly cracked Crosby with a pretty good cross-check, sending the Penguins’ star awkwardly into the end boards. It looked for a few moments like Crosby might be injured, but he was fine, and ended up with three assists for the second straight game. It was interesting, though, that no Pens teammate gave Kuraly so much as a nasty glare.
Hab a nice vacation
The Bruins flew home to begin their bye week — which is actually just four days. The players are off through Thursday, but they have to be in Montreal on Friday for a late-afternoon practice.
The B’s face the Canadiens on Saturday night in not only the first meeting of the teams this season, but the first of three in eight days. Real nice scheduling there, NHL, which has the league’s most ancient and intense rivals playing Saturday, Wednesday at the Garden and next Saturday back in Montreal. They don’t face off again until their final clash on March 3 . . . .
The Bruins are one of the biggest surprises this season in the NHL. So are the Penguins.
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champs are the league’s biggest disappointment. Last night’s victory moved the Penguins — 6-8-0 in their last 14 — out of the Metropolitan Division basement.
For comparison, the B’s are 173-3 in their last 23.
The Penguins took great optimism from Friday’s 4-0 victory over the Islanders.
“Confidence is a funny thing,” said Pens coach Mike Sullivan. “You can get it back as fast as you can lose it. When you have a game like (Friday), it can give a team a boost of confidence.”