Avery topples Rask/By S. Bradley
BOSTON — Relegated to second-banana status behind Tim Thomas since he lost the Bruins’ season-opener Oct. 9, Tuukka Rask made the start tonight and was the victim of the types of bounces that would make some goaltenders wish they stayed home.
Rask/By S. Bradley
BOSTON — Unlike Thursday morning, when he walked off the ice after the morning skate shortly before Tim Thomas (who got the start and beat Washington), Tuukka Rask was off well ahead of anyone else today at TD Garden.
Rask/By S. Bradley
BOSTON — Tuukka Rask left the TD Garden ice this morning about 30 seconds before Tim Thomas after the club’s morning skate.
Julien/By S. Bradley
WILMINGTON, Mass. — Now that Tim Thomas has turned his first two starts in goal into an argument for him being back in Vezina Trophy-worthy form, Bruins head coach Claude Julien seemingly has a difficult decision to make about his starter on every game day.
Rask/By S. Bradley
It’s still a little hard to fathom how Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask didn’t earn a trip to Las Vegas last summer.
The former first-round pick of Toronto made good on all his rookie-year potential last season by leading the league in both goals-against average (1.97) and save percentage (.931).
Rask/By S. Bradley
BOSTON – If reporting to training camp didn’t already do it, Tuukka Rask’s exhibition game tonight in Montreal should officially turn the page on his career from rookie to sophomore.
Rask/By S. Bradley
WILMINGTON, Mass. — Before more than a dozen Bruins players took the Ristuccia Arena ice this morning for the first captains’ practice of the 2010-11 season, goaltending coach Bob Essensa had his pupils on the ice for some work along with some rookie shooters.
Among the group of netminders was veteran Tim Thomas, who is working his way back from offseason hip surgery.
Rask at Ferncroft CC
MIDDLETON, Mass. – There are a couple schools of thought when talking about Tuukka Rask and Tim Thomas both returning as the Bruins’ goaltending tandem for the 2010-11 season.
At least publicly, we now know what Rask’s position is in the matter.
“We had an awesome time last year and it’s a fair competition for both of us,” the 23-year-old said before teeing off at Shawn Thornton’s Putts and Punches for Parkinson’s golf tournament at Ferncroft Country Club. “I think it’s healthy for a team and for us too when nobody takes anything for granted. We liked it and hopefully that continues.”
Thomas
Now that the odds his 2010-11 Bruins squad will feature a No. 2 goaltender making $5 million and a No. 1 taking home a little more than $1 million increased, Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli has to accept the market for a 36-year-old Tim Thomas just might not be what he thought it would be heading into the offseason.
With teams like San Jose, Atlanta and Tampa Bay addressing their goaltender needs in free agency today, there are fewer potential homes for Thomas. So Chiarelli is already wrapping his mind around a potential second season of Thomas and Tuukka Rask being together in Boston.
Rask/By S. Bradley
If as a fan you enjoyed watching Tuukka Rask’s rookie season, imagine how the Bruins scouts and player personnel people felt as the star goaltender dominated the NHL with a league-leading save percentage and goals-against average.
Someone like Director of Player Personnel Scott Bradley was in on the decision to trade for Rask and watched his closely from his time with Finland at the World Junior Championship all the way through his breakout 2009-10 season. (more…)
Rask/By S. Bradley
Let the record show that on May 14, in the 58th game of his NHL rookie season, Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask proved that he’s human.
All season long, we wondered if anything short of throwing a lit firecracker in his skate would get Rask to flinch, to change his emotional level, to prove there’s blood and now ice water running through his veins.
As it turned out, it took a Game 7 in an Eastern Conference semifinal series with Philadelphia – and a date with one of the most infamous records in sports – to make Rask look antsy and a bit overactive. (more…)
Rask
BOSTON – The Bruins can hope that winger Mark Recchi wasn’t just getting carried away in the hoopla of a first-round playoff series victory over Buffalo and rookie goaltender Tuukka Rask’s 2.18 goals-against average and .927 save percentage in the six-game triumph when he started comparing the Boston puck-stopper to a Conn Smythe winner.
“That’s incredible,” the 42-year-old two-time Stanley Cup champion Recchi said. “I saw it in ’06 in Carolina with Cam Ward [when the Hurricanes won the Cup]. When they’re technically sound as these young guys are and they believe in what they do, they can stay composed because they are so structurally sound as goalies and he doesn’t let anything bother him.
“He just plays the game. He doesn’t let that goal bother him. He just plays the next one and competes.” (more…)
Rask
WILMINGTON, Mass. — Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask led the league in goals-against average and save percentage, and willed the Bruins into the playoffs despite the worst offense in the league, but those qualifications did nothing to impress the voters of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association.
The finalists were announced for the Calder Trophy today, and Detroit’s Jimmy Howard, Colorado’s Matt Duchesne and Buffalo’s Tyler Myers made the cut. I’ve already made my case for Rask’s inclusion over both Howard and Duchesne. (more…)
WILMINGTON, Mass. – Bruins rookie goaltender Tuukka Rask admits he made a mistake when the Providence Bruins, as owners of the best record in the American Hockey League, opened the 2008 Calder Cup playoffs.
Rask now believes that his first run as a starting goaltender in the Stanley Cup playoffs this spring won’t be anything like that first failed foray into the AHL postseason, when the highly favored P-Bruins fell in the Atlantic Division finals partly because of some poor play from Rask.
“Maybe my first year, I was a little too excited,” said Rask, after his first NHL playoff practice today at Ristuccia Arena. “I knew we had a great team and I think I got carried away there. Last year, I played the same way I did during the year, and I didn’t change a thing, and I think that was the biggest difference in those two years. I learned how to keep myself calm.” (more…)
Now we get to find out what Bruins rookie goaltender Tuukka Rask is really made of.
His reputation as a cool customer with ice water flowing through his veins was tested down the stretch, as the Bruins played weeks worth of games at a playoff intensity just to get into the postseason. He passed the regular-season exam. Now the Finnish phenom will get his first taste of the Stanley Cup playoffs. (more…)
