Bruins Live Blog: Lightning Earn Dominant 4-1 Victory To Take 2-1 Series Lead
Follow along as both the Bruins and Lightning seek to take a 2-1 lead in this second-round series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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Follow along as both the Bruins and Lightning seek to take a 2-1 lead in this second-round series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
This may prove to be an unpopular opinion in the great city of Boston, but here goes: You have got to appreciate Game 2 between the Bruins and Lightning.
The Tampa Bay Lightning can't let the Bruins play like this in Game 2.
After the Bruins' 6-2 victory in Game 1 of their second-round series against Tampa Bay there should be a moratorium placed on any and all negative reviews of Rask and Nash.
A detailed look through the four Bruins-Lightning game to see what might apply in the upcoming playoff series.
The stats were ugly for Tuukka Rask in the Bruins' Game 7 win, but were the goals the result of bad goaltending?
Taking nothing away from the Maple Leafs, it's fair to say the Bruins only have themselves to blame for the fact that they're now facing elimination in Game 7.
Coming out of that Game 5, Rask was once again the top story -- though not at all for the reasons he would have hoped.
Forced into the rare position of having to carry the Bruins in Game 4 against the Maple Leafs, Tuukka Rask responded with 31 saves on 32 shots in a 3-1 win.
There may be no job in sports that's more difficult to maintain consistent performance. One need look no further than Frederik Andersen for the perfect illustration of the extreme swings that can happen from one night to the next.
"It's part of realizing you can't take a night off, no matter what night it is and who you're playing and what happened the night before. You have to be at your best."
It looked and felt like playoff hockey at the Garden, where Tuukka Rask and David Pastrnak were ready, willing and able to get physical.
Rask is known for being at his best when he's calm in net, but he can also have a temper that sometimes results in clumsy self-punishment, equipment destruction and the abuse of milk crates. The Bruins benefited from a little bit of both sides of Rask's personality in their 4-2 win against the Lightning at TD Garden.
The Bruins are set to embark on what could be a long postseason run. There remains doubt on the goaltender's playoff mettle. Here's a look at some facts.
The Bruins wasted little time welcoming Tuukka Rask back into the lineup Thursday.
Tuukka Rask made 32 saves and extended his personal point streak to 19 games lifting the Boston Bruins to a 3-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Thursday night.
"I thought Tuukka was our best player," Cassidy said.
The month of December belonged to Bruins netminder Tuukka Rask.
The Bruins are headed to Brooklyn again, and this time they're bringing Tuukka Rask with them. And they'd have to be nuts not to ride Rask's hot hand against the New York Islanders on Tuesday. Coach Bruce Cassidy already announced Rask will get the start.
With his cage sufficiently rattled, Rask has been a completely different goalie since taking the ice on Nov. 29. In fact, he's been the best goalie in the NHL.
Just as the Bruins planned it, their goalie controversy has become their goalie abundance.
After losing his second straight start Thursday, Bruins goaltender Anton Khudobin sounded like a downtrodden fortune cookie. "We shot a lot of pucks and some things didn't go our way," the Bruins' backup said. "When the black cat crossed the road, it's just a black cat crossed the road." Unfortunately for Khudobin and the Bruins, they weren't playing against cats of any color – just the Washington Capitals, who continued their run of dominance against the Bruins with a 5-3 win at TD Garden. The Capitals have won 11 straight against the Bruins, including six straight in Boston.
The pressure was on the $7.5 million man to stop the skid and solidify his spot in the crease for a team with playoff aspirations. Through four starts -- and five appearances -- he's done just that.
It should've been no surprise that when it came time to select a starting goaltender for the Bruins' showdown with the NHL-leading Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday, Cassidy was willing to take a risk.
Joe Haggerty tells Toucher & Rich that Tuukka Rask didn't play particularly well, despite the win.
