Rask masks B’s issue
With goalie, scoring not as big a problem
SUNRISE, Fla. — A suggestion to Tuukka Rask: After returning from a nagging, on-again-off-again leg injury that bothered you for weeks — and the Bruins missed you, to put it lightly — you probably better get used to daily questions about your health.
Indeed, coach Claude Julien, when asked yesterday about Rask’s recovery from a terrific 1-0 shutout of the Red Wings on Saturday in Detroit, sounded like he, too, has ongoing concern about the spindly Finn.
“Every day that Tuukka gets through practice (or) a game is a good day,” Julien said.
Rask took full part in practice ahead of tonight’s game against the Florida Panthers.
“(It’s the) same as all the other players,” Julien said, “but he’s gone through a bit of a tough stretch there where he had some soreness. He seems to be doing OK now. We’ve got to hope that continues and he’s healthy. We need him. We’ll continue to monitor and make sure he’s OK. Just because you come back from an injury and you’re good, doesn’t mean it can’t creep back in. There’s no guarantees. We make sure we stay on top of it.”
Rask sounded very confident that the ailment, generally thought to be something along the lines of a recurrent hamstring strain, is behind him.
“If I’m out there, that means I’m feeling good,” Rask said. “If I start missing days of practice, then you can ask me. But I feel very good.”
Rask feels very good, too, about the style of hockey the Bruins have played in most of his games early this season. The goalie, of course, has been highly critical at times the past two seasons about the loose and shoddy defense too often played in front of him.
“I feel we’re playing good,” Rask said. “The games I’ve played in, our team defense has been very good, very solid. We’re not necessarily scoring a lot of goals, but we’ve learned that we know how to play the tight games and turn those into wins — which is a great sign after the last couple of years, when we didn’t necessarily do that. We had a lot of breakdowns. It’s been a great sign that we can get things tight defensively and score the necessary goals.”
The Bruins barely have scored the necessary number of goals. They have 18 goals overall, tied for the fewest in the Eastern Conference with the Columbus Blue Jackets and New Jersey Devils, and only seven in the past five games. Only the Vancouver Canucks (16) have scored fewer in the NHL.
“That’s probably the one thing we want to get better at,” Julien said. “That, in my mind, is a lot about confidence. The guys have to gain confidence back. But it’s not a concern as long as we’re playing as hard as we have, giving the other teams nothing. I know we have to score to win, but I just think if we keep the focus on continuing to work hard in all areas that confidence will come back and we’ll eventually start scoring goals. We’ve got some fairly important players out of our lineup right now who give us that goalscoring punch. Some other guys have to step up.”
Wins will be tough to come by the next two games, with a visit to Amalie Arena in Tampa to play the Lightning on Thursday looming after tonight’s matchup with the Panthers. Julien hopes for the same sort of disciplined team defense the B’s showed in Detroit — and also more of the same from Rask, who is playing ridiculously well (4-0-0 record, 1.26 goals-against average, .958 save percentage).
“I think right now (the players) understand that they have to be at their best,” Julien said. “Hopefully it continues. (Detroit) was just one game. It’s far from saying we’ve turned a corner, but I like the direction we’ve gone probably the last fourfive days.”