The Bruins had their first practice following the All-Star break on Monday. Tuukka Rask was not among their company. Rask, in fact, will not practice at all this week, according to coach Bruce Cassidy.
This is not what the Bruins had in mind. They hoped a six-day pause would be enough for Rask to recover from his post-surgery discomfort.
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Instead, the best-case scenario is three weeks between appearances for Rask. The 34-year-old last played on Jan. 24 against Anaheim, when he allowed five goals on 27 shots. Rask backed up Linus Ullmark on Jan. 26. He was not in uniform for any of the three following games against Arizona, Dallas and Seattle.
“That’ll be his call, obviously,” Cassidy said when asked if Rask would have to cut his return short. “He’s the one kind of fighting through some body issues for his age with the comeback. We’ll see how it turns out.”
The Bruins will have played 46 games by week’s end. Jeremy Swayman will start on Tuesday against Pittsburgh. Ullmark is scheduled to take Thursday’s game against Carolina.
Even if Rask returns to practice next Monday, it is unlikely he’d be ready for game action the following night against the Rangers, which marks the start of a three-game road swing.
All of this means Rask and the Bruins are watching the clock more closely to determine whether the former ace can reclaim the net for the playoffs. If and when Rask is healthy enough to play, the Bruins would have to ease him back into the lineup to avoid another flareup. The team originally penciled Rask in for eight starts before making a determination on how they’d proceed. He has started four.
If there is solace in the situation, it’s that Ullmark has played more like a No. 1 goalie than he has all year. He’s made 12 appearances since Jan. 1, second-most behind Marc-Andre Fleury, Juuse Saros, Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic.
Ullmark’s save percentage is a pedestrian .902 within this segment. But to the eye, Ullmark’s been bigger, tighter and more efficient with his movements. The only shaky goal that came to Cassidy’s mind was a Luke Glendening strike on Jan. 30. Ullmark was too aggressive playing a Roope Hintz shot. This left him out of position on Glendening’s long-distance shot.
“I think he’s been recovering better, more post to post than outside those dead areas, as Bob calls them,” said Cassidy. “Rebound control has been better, putting pucks in better places. The stuff around the front of the net. There’s been less of that, where it’s come off the end boards and guys are kind of looking at each other: Who’s got it, who doesn’t. Cleaning up some of that stuff. I think all those things have improved since October and November.”
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Meanwhile, Swayman is back after a five-game AHL spin. He was not initially content with his Providence assignment. But he is coming off a 2-1 overtime Feb. 5 win over Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in which he stopped 26 shots.
For now, the Ullmark-Swayman tandem should be enough to see the Bruins through this next stretch. The Bruins start the post-break sprint with 55 points. They are nine points clear of Detroit for the No. 2 wild-card position. They trail Toronto, No. 3 in the Atlantic Division, by six points.
As a team, the Bruins have a .905 save percentage, including Rask’s .844 mark. This makes them No. 18 in the league, according to Natural Stat Trick: average to slightly below average. If Ullmark continues to progress and Swayman is motivated by his assignment, the Bruins should improve.
Rask’s setback is not ideal. You could even call it unexpected, given how well he initially recovered from his procedure. But he is 34 years old following major hip surgery. These two elements are not always compatible. It’s why the Bruins never counted on Rask’s comeback as a sure thing.
It may be, then, that Rask pulls the plug on his comeback. It would be an unfortunate development. A healthy and on-form Rask would be the Bruins’ best postseason option.
The truth is that goaltending is not atop the Bruins’ to-do list. Their priority is acquiring a No. 2 center, both for today and tomorrow. They could use left-side depth on defense.
The Bruins are not done for if Rask calls it quits. Anyway, he is not at that point just yet.
(Photo: Steve Babineau / NHLI via Getty Images)
