The Boston Bruins will commence their route to the Stanley Cup on Thursday at TD Garden against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins have some issues heading to this playoffs, one of the most discused topic, as always, is their goaltending.
Since the 2012-2013 shortened NHL season, Tuukka Rask has been the Bruins starting netminder. This is the fifth playoff trip for Boston with Rask as their number one goalie. Since 2013, the B’s have been involved in 42 playoff games and Rask has started all of them in the net. He will be the starting goaltender in the Game 1 on Thursday.
Let’s take a look at all of the previous four seasons when the Bruins made the playoffs with Tuukka Rask being their starting goaltender.
2012-2013 Season
In the 2012-2013 season, Rask’s backup was Anton Khudobin. Rask has played in 36 games during the regular season having 2.00 goals against average per game and .929 in save percentage with five shutouts. Khudobin was a solid backup, but he wasn’t anywhere near Tuukka Rask. His save percentage of .920 in 14 games was good, but not enough for the Bruins to not start Rask in the playoffs.
In the 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs, Rask was simply outstanding for the Bruins. He led his team all the way to the Stanley Cup final. In 22 starts Rask had .940 in save percentage and 1.88 goals against average combined with three shutouts. Unfortunately for the Bruins, they lost in six games against the Chicago Blackhawks in the final, but it was one heck of the run for the Finnish netminder. There was no doubt at all, Rask was deservedly the number one goaltender.
2013-2014 Season
In the 2013-2014 season, Rask’s backup was Chad Johnson. Johnson´s numbers were the best one in his career, he has had .925 in save percentage and 2.10 goals against average in 27 games played. Nevertheless, he had no chance of challenging Rask. Tuukka Rask ended up that regular season claiming the Vezina Trophy for the best goaltender in the NHL. In his 58 starts, he has recorded .930 in save percentage and 2.04 goals against average combined with seven clean sheets.
In the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs, many expected the Bruins to go all the way,
2016-2017 Season
Boston missed the playoffs in the following two seasons. They made their return in the 2016-2017 season. Rask was clearly a starter in the season, as he had no backup goaltender at all. Anton Khudobin has been struggling from the beginning of the season, neither Zane McIntyre nor Malcolm Subban was ready just yet. Rask has played in 65 games that year recording .915 of save percentage and 2.23 goals against average. Anton Khudobin has played in just 16 games with the save percentage of .904. Once again, heading to the playoffs, there weren’t left any doubts about who should be the Bruins number one goalie.
In the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Bruins had a short time enjoying being in the show. The Ottawa Senators claimed the first-round series in six games, but Rask was pretty solid in those contests. In those six starts, Rask has recorded .920 in save percentage with 2.24 goals against average.
2017-2018 Season
After three seasons of struggling, the Bruins came back to being a team with more than 100 points. They actually got to 112 points in the 2017-2018 season. Anton Khudobin found his game again to provide relief for Rask and the B’s beneficiated from that for sure. Khudobin has played in 32 games having the save percentage of .913 and 2.56 goals against average per game. However, Rask’s numbers
In the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, Rask was the number one goalkeeper. But his playoffs stats were clearly the worst in his playoff career. He had given up 2.88 goals per game and his save percentage was at .903. You can compare those numbers with those ones from the previous campaigns. Rask has been conceding a ton of goals mainly in the first round versus the Maple Leafs, but in the second round, Rask had been stellar against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Present Situation
And now let’s take a look at the freshly concluded 2018-2019 regular season. Tuukka Rask has played in 46 games this season recording the save percentage of .912 and 2.48 goals against average. His backup goaltender, Jaroslav Halak, has been involved in 40 games with the save percentage of .922 and 2.34 goals against average per game.
Compared to the past four seasons, when the Bruins made it to the playoffs with Tuukka Rask being their number one goaltender (2013, 2014, 2017 and 2018), Rask’s numbers are the worst ones with the least amount of games played. On the other side, he has never had such a challenging backup netminder alongside him in those previous four trips to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Since 2013, Rask’s numbers have never been worse than his backup’s stats, until now.
Chad Johnson or Anton Khudobin could not possess a threat to Rask as they had no playoff experience in their resume and didn’t have better stats. But that seems pretty different as of now. Statistically speaking, Halak has been better than Rask. The Slovakian goalie has the playoff experience as well, he has played in 30 playoff games recording the save percentage of .924 and 2.39 goals against average. Tuukka Rask has the same save percentage but in his 65 career playoff games.
It has been four years now since Jaroslav Halak last time played in the playoff game. His New York Islanders lost in seven games in the first round of the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs versus the Washington Capitals. Halak has had the save percentage of .926 and 2.30 in GAA.
With all of that being said, Tuukka Rask should still start in Game 1 on Thursday, based on his experience and the status he has in Boston. Bruins Head Coach Bruce Cassidy has never been shy about actually playing Halak over Rask if that was needed. If needed, means, if Rask fails in a game or two, Cassidy should not shy away from giving Halak a chance to start the game and show what he is capable of doing.
The Bruins have to be cautious now as they can lose just three games in one series. That’s also the reason why they should always roll out their best possible lineup, even if that required starting Jaroslav Halak in the net.
