Rask ready to start anew
B’s goalie reveals why he left bubble
A lot has changed since Tuukka Rask last tended net for the Boston Bruins.
That was in Game 2 of the opening round of the bubble playoffs against Carolina last summer, just before a family emergency forced him to leave his team in Toronto and tend to more pressing matters at home, setting off yet another firestorm of criticism of the goalie from a portion of the fandom that wasn’t privy to what was going.
Speaking via Zoom on Wednesday for the first time since then, Rask reiterated much of what he told the Herald in October … that it was difficult to leave but a decision he had to make. He also addressed the sea change in the B’s defense.
“Obviously it was a tough decision to leave; but then again it wasn’t, because I knew that it was more important for me to be home at that time, so that was easy to live with. On the other hand, you’re at home, knowing that you could be there and should be there playing hockey so it’s tough kind of tough to watch the games,” said Rask. “You’re kind of caught in this middle, your brain is kind of spinning at that point. You’re kind of, like, knowing you’re in the right place at home but then again you should be there stopping pucks. It was tough for a few weeks, but it helped I was talking to Jaro (Halak) a lot and talking to a lot of guys and they were giving support and knew what was going on. And there were no issues coming in here. We were in touch this summer and had discussions about whatever, life, teammates and stuff and there were no issues coming back.”
Initially, GM Don
Sweeney downplayed the emergency nature of the situation on the morning Rask left the bubble. But the goalie, without explaining exactly what was going on with his daughter, revealed why he left so abruptly.
“Everything happened so quickly, I think that (Sweeney) was kind of caught by surprise by it, too. I got a phone call the night before that our daughter wasn’t doing so well at that point and they had to call an ambulance. Obviously at that point, my mind was spinning. I’m like ‘I need to get out of here.’ So then the next morning I informed him. We had a brief talk and I left,” said Rask, who said his daughter is fine now.
Sweeney voiced his support for Rask that day and on several occasions since then, as did his Bruin teammates, which bolstered him.
“It means a lot,” said Rask.
“Like you probably know, we’re a pretty tight group and we try to stay together on and off the ice. It meant a lot that day that they had my back on that. It was a great thing to see, that your teammates have your back.”
Rask is in the final year of his contract, and again said he would like to continue playing, and for no other team but the Bruins.
“I’ve said that before. I have no intention of playing anywhere else except for the Bruins, so if I’m good enough to play one, two, three more years then so be it. If I’m not then so be it. That’s where my head’s at,” said Rask.
While there are some intriguing goaltending prospects in the system — Daniel Vladar, Jeremy Swayman, Kyle Keyser — none have proven they’re ready to take the torch. But so far, there have been no discussions about an extension.
“What the situation is now is everything’s kind of upside down with the hockey world and Sweens has a lot on his plate right now. My contract situation is probably not on top of his list at the moment,” said Rask. “I’m comfortable with where we are right now. I just want to go out there and start the season right and get on a good groove and play good hockey personally and as a team and if the contract talks happen during the season, so be it. And if they don’t, we’ll just wait it out and see what happens. But my main focus right now is to get the season started off right. And then worry about the future after that.”
Rask’s immediate future will be to play behind a defense that will no longer have Torey Krug or Zdeno Chara, a goalie’s ultimate security blanket.
“It’s going to be different without him, for sure. When I was texting him, I told him I’m definitely going to miss him. We’ve talked about it before that he’s such a big part of the penalty kill, he reads the play so well and his stick’s always in the right spot. Even on the entries, his stick’s so long that he creates so many offsides,” said Rask.
“It’s going to be different, but I think the guys that we have have played some games already, so it’s not like they’re going to be jumping into the unknown. It’ll just be more minutes for them. Obviously everybody makes mistakes and we’re prepared that mistakes that are going to happen. But I feel that we’re very comfortable for this group that we have.”
Coach Bruce Cassidy will break the group into two squads and scrimmage on Thursday and Friday. He plans to do two 30-minute running time periods and could possibly tweak that on Friday. The team is scheduled to have Saturday off and, by Sunday, the roster and taxi squad could be set. The limits are 23 for roster and six for the taxi squad. …
Jakub Zboril was moved to a potential third pair with Kevan Miller on Wednesday. Cassidy is hoping that the rookie can learn from the dedicated vet.
“What he can gain is, Kevan is a very intense player,” said Cassidy. “He approaches practice, workouts, games with a very determined focus. Some of that can rub off. Younger players sometimes rely on just their ability to play the game. They don’t prepare as well. They don’t have a routine that helps them get through times when maybe the game isn’t going well for them individually.”