The Boston Bruins begin their re-entry into the brutal, every-other-night NHL schedule from the All-Star break with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night at the Garden.
When — or, more importantly, if — the Bruins’ all-time winningest goalie rejoins them in the second half of the season is anyone’s guess.
After a five-day break, the Bruins returned to practice at Warrior Ice Arena on Monday and Tuukka Rask was not among the players skating. The last time he was seen on the ice was on Jan. 26 when he backed up Linus Ullmark in Colorado. What’s more, Coach Bruce Cassidy said that Rask will not practice this week and that there will be an update later this week or early next week.
Cassidy was asked whether the 34-year-old Rask is at a crossroads in his thinking about whether he wants to continue this comeback attempt.
“That’ll be his call, obviously. He’s the one fighting some medical issues or body issues for his age with the comeback so we’ll see how it turns out,” said Cassidy.
It’s tough to find anything promising in that. And while it may be Rask’s call right now, if this lingers much longer then the team might have to make the call.
With less 39 games to go, the Bruins are running out of runway to determine whether Rask can regain the form that made him one of the best goalies in the league over the past decade.
After that Colorado game, Rask was scratched for Arizona game on Jan. 28. His last game was his worst of the four games he started, a 5-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 24 in which he allowed a bad short-handed goal and a couple more goals against that were iffy.
Coming out of that game, he was experiencing some lower body discomfort but both he and the team felt he’d be able to make his next start, either in Arizona or Dallas. But shortly before the Arizona game, Troy Grosenick was activated from the practice squad and Jeremy Swayman was recalled from Providence.
Grosenick backed up Ullmark in Arizona and Swayman, who had been sent to the AHL when Rask had been activated, backed up and later played the Dallas blowout. With only one remaining before the break, Rask was shut down until after the break, when it was hoped there would be more clarity. That has not happened and the waiting game continues.
Swayman, meanwhile, will get his first start with Boston since absorbing the loss against Minnesota on Jan. 6. He is 8-6-2 with a .916 save percentage.
Swayman was the odd-man out because he did not require waivers to be sent to Providence, but he’d been playing well, improving his rebound control that had given him a little bit of trouble.
In five games in Providence, the last of which was over the weekend, he was 3-2 with a .911 save percentage and 2.18 GAA. As is his way, Swayman tried to make the best of the situation.
“It was more of an opportunity to get better, mentally, physically, working on my game. I don’t want to make it a negative thing at all. I think there are a lot of positives that came out of it and I’m just so excited to be back up here with the team,” said Swayman, a former UMaine goalie.
If Rask cannot make it back, it would surely be a difficult way for it to end for him. He had said upon signing his one-year deal with the Bruins that, if he had chosen to retire, then he probably would not have bothered with the surgery. He could have lived a normal life without the surgery but, to play goalie at the NHL level, he needed to go under the knife. That alone might suggest he’d keep pushing to make it back until he runs out of time.
But if Rask can’t make it back, then the Bruins’ goaltending is in better shape with Ullmark and Swayman than one might have thought through the first two months of the season. Ullmark in particular has looked like the No. 1 goalie he was hoped to be when he was signed to a four-year, $20 million contact in the offseason, posting a 9-1-1 record since Jan. 1.
“I think he’s been more under control,” said Cassidy. “There was the third goal in Dallas that was a little scruffy…but I think he’s been recovering better post-to-post and outside those dead areas, (goalie coach Bob Essensa) calls them. Rebound control has been better, putting pucks in better places. The stuff around the front of the net, there’s been less of that…I think all those things have improved since October, November.”
Considering the uncertainty surrounding Rask, the Bruins can only hope they’ll be seeing more of the Ullmark-Swayman postgame celebratory hugs.
URHO VAAKANAINEN, who suffered facial injuries when he was rammed face-first into the glass by Seattle’s Yanni Gourde last week, did not practice on Monday and is out for Tuesday. … Nick Foligno and Trent Frederic continued to work their way back and both could be available as soon as Tuesday. Cassidy said he probably would not insert both of them into the lineup at the same time. “Foligno was out less time so he’s probably the more prepared guy to play,” said Cassidy. … Evgeni Malkin, who has 13 points in the 12 games since returning from a knee injury, entered COVID protocol and will not be available for the Penguins.
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