With His Back Against the Wall, Tuukka Rask Responds With His Biggest Win In a Long Time

It was a real surprise to see Tuukka Rask (4-8-2) get the start at TD Garden tonight vs. Tampa Bay (17-6-2) but Bruins (11-8-4) head coach Bruce Cassidy's hunch paid off in a big way as Boston held on for a very satisfying 3-2 victory against the top team in the NHL. Rask was staked to a 3-0 lead early in the second period and he was only forced to make 19 saves to earn the win but the Lightning awoke late in the second period and dominated the third but Rask was there to shut the door for two points that he desperately needed.

Rask's most recent win was November 6 vs. Minnesota so needless to say, this was a long time coming. Given the quality of the opponent and the way that it played out, the B's have to hope that this is the kick-start that he's been looking for basically all of this so far bizarre season. Boston also received a boost since David Backes (missed 12 games) and Brad Marchand (missed 6 games) returned from injuries and immediately had an impact on the tilt. Marchand assisted on the first two Bruins goals as they took a 2-0 lead in the first period. Charlie McAvoy opened the scoring with a goal at 7:27 that originally was called off for goaltender interference on Andrei Vasilevskiy (33 saves) but eventually the refs overturned it. David Pastrnak and Marchand had the helpers on McAvoy's third goal of the season.

Boston got some always appreciated secondary scoring to double their lead as Riley Nash sniped a shot by Vasilevskiy at 17:13. Danton Heinen and Marchand assisted on Nash's second goal of the season which also extended his point streak to three games. Cedric Paquette crushed Torey Krug along the end boards early in the second period which led to Frank Vatrano tripping Paquette. Little guys stick together! Shortly after that, Mikhail Sergachev was nabbed for interference on Marchand who simultaneously was called for embellishment (which only him and a few other guys around the league would have been charged with in that instance). No matter as Krug exacted some revenge with a one-timer at 5:59 from Ryan Spooner and McAvoy when the teams were skating 4-on-4, his fourth goal of the season.

Lightning defenseman Andrej Sustr scored his first goal since March 30 of last season when his shot from the point through traffic found a hole into Boston's net. Braydon Coburn and Chris Kunitz assisted on that fluky goal. It could have been worse for the B's since Tyler Johnson broke in on Rask but his shot somehow hit the post and skimmed along the goal line but never went in before he ran into the embattled Finnish goaltender. Boston escaped the frame with a 3-1 advantage which was trimmed to 3-2 at 2:10 of the third period as Steven Stamkos scored his 11th goal of the season and NHL-leading eighth power play tally of the season. He crushed a one-timer from Alex Ovechkin's office (left side half-wall), assisted by Nikita Kucherov and Mikhail Sergachev. Rask clinched the win with a key stop on Dan Girardi's shot that was tipped by Ryan Callahan.

As far as we know, the Bruins made it through a complete game (including McAvoy who played a career-high 28:11) without sustaining another key injury. Their next game is Saturday (1, NESN) at Philadelphia (8-10-7) who is a woeful 1-4-5 in their last 10 games. It shouldn't matter who gets the start in that contest, either Rask or Anton Khudobin (7-0-2) should be able to beat the Flyers who are currently a dumpster fire with their fans booing them off the ice and calling for their head coach's head. Haha what else is new for that silly team that still doesn't have a legitimate goaltender of its own?

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