Rask shocker: Bruins starting goalie opts out of NHL playoffs hours before Game 3 win
The Carolina Hurricanes’ first-round series against the Boston Bruins took an unexpected and unprecedented turn a little more than 90 minutes before Game 3 on Saturday when Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask announced he was opting out of the NHL playoffs and exiting the league’s Toronto bubble for personal reasons, with a newborn and two other young children at home.
Veteran backup Jaroslav Halak gave away a goal to Nino Niederreiter with a misplay behind the net but stopped the other 29 shots he faced in a 3-1 Bruins wins.
“I want to be with my teammates competing, but at this moment there are more important things than hockey in my life, and I want to be with my family,” Rask said in a statement released by the team. “I want to thank the Bruins and my teammates for their support and wish them success.”
Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said Saturday morning that the 33-year-old goalie’s decision to exit was not “any big surprise” to the team and that Rask had found his time in the bubble “more and more difficult.“ Rask and his wife have three children age 6 or younger, including a daughter born in April.
“We understand completely where Tuukka is coming from,” Sweeney said. “I don’t think it’s any big surprise to us. We’re privy to information before the public is. This has been a difficult decision for Tuukka but the Boston Bruins are supportive for why he made this decision. ...
“For all of our players we knew this would be a mental challenge, especially players with families. Tuukka just felt he needed to be home with them at this particular time. Give Tuukka credit for trying to persevere through this and initiate the process to come up and be with his teammates. First and foremost that’s what he wants to do. But the priorities are in the right order and this is what he has to do at this time.”
Rask had complained after the Hurricanes’ 3-2 win in Game 2 on Thursday to even the series 1-1 that the fan-free games in the bubble lacked playoff atmosphere.
“There’s none of that so it just feels like dull at times,” Rask said.
Rask was 1-3 with a 2.57 goals-against average and .904 save percentage in the bubble, playing well in both games against the Hurricanes. Halak is 0-1 (4.30, .862) after posting a 2.39, .919 line in 31 regular-season games. He posted a 24-save shutout on December 3 in a 2-0 win over the Hurricanes, his only regular-season appearance against them and his 500th career NHL start. The Bruins’ third-string goalie is Dan Vladar, who has never appeared in an NHL game.
“Jaro’s a pro,” Sweeney said. “The last two years we’ve been a hockey club that’s relied on everybody. ... From the standpoint of knowing there was always going to be a back-to-back, and then we had another one thrown in there, I think Jaro was well prepared.”
Sweeney said Rask’s departure was unrelated to his concerns about the playoff environment Thursday night.
“Nothing specific to his direct comments,” Sweeney said. “I think you can rightfully infer Tuukka was having a tough time being away in this environment. That’s nothing against what NHL put together and the intensity of these playoffs. This is playoff hockey, make no mistake about it. Tuukka felt he needed to be elsewhere rather than being here in this situation. He’s the same goaltender who took a team to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final last year and will be the same goalie next year.”
Bruins forward Charlie Coyle said after the second period that Rask’s teammates respected his decision, but NBC broadcaster Mike Milbury criticized Rask’s decision on the network’s pregame show.
“Nobody has simply opted to just leave the bubble just because they didn’t want to be here and they needed to be with their family,” Milbury said “I would not have done it. The rest of the league’s players have not done it. I think this will be, in a city that hasn’t really embraced Tuukka Rask despite his success, a city that I grew up in, I played and coached there for 20 years and live there now, this is going to be a difficult decision to swallow.”
Niederreiter jumps into top slot
Niederreiter, who knocked down Halak’s clearing attempt with his right glove and tapped the puck into the net to make it 2-1 in the third, was a healthy scratch in Game 2. He went all the way from the press box to the top line in Game 3, starting Saturday with Sebastian Aho and Teuvo Teravainen as Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour kept Andrei Svechnikov off his usual spot on that line.
Niederreiter drew in for Ryan Dzingel, while the defense remained the same with Jake Gardiner scratched and Joel Edmundson still “unfit to play.” Petr Mrazek returned to the net after James Reimer’s winning performance in Game 2.
With star winger David Pastrnak still out, the Bruins made a triple swap, bringing in forwards Jack Studnicka and Par Lindholm and defenseman Connor Clifton for Nick Ritchie, Karson Kuhlman and Jeremy Lauzon.
Tailwinds
Justin Williams passed Kevin Dineen for eighth place in career playoff games (45) in franchise history. ... With the Hurricanes the “home” team in Game 3, N.C. State basketball coach Kevin Keatts was the ceremonial siren sounder. ACC rivals Mike Krzyzewski and Roy Williams handled games 1 and 2 of the qualifying round. .... Sebastian Aho’s five-game point streak came to an end. ... Referee Kevin Pollock was hit in the face by a puck on the same play Svechnikov was injured in the third period and was replaced by alternate Kyle Rehman.
This story was originally published August 15, 2020 at 10:41 AM with the headline "Rask shocker: Bruins starting goalie opts out of NHL playoffs hours before Game 3 win."
