McDonald: Win or lose, it was the right decision to start Tuukka Rask

It’s Tuukka’s net.

Here’s why: The Bruins held a 3-1 lead with 31.2 seconds remaining in the second period Wednesday night when the Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov, the NHL’s second-leading point-getter, had the puck on his stick from point-blank range. This is a situation when a true No. 1 goalie does exactly what he’s supposed to. Rask went post-to-post and made an outstanding save to secure Boston’s two-goal lead.

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“Did I have a really good look? Oh, yeah — definitely,” Kucherov told BostonSportsJournal.com. “I had a good chance to score, but I didn’t lift enough and he did a hell of a save out there. I don’t know (about Rask’s struggles) because he was fine today.”

During his recent struggles, Rask was not as sharp going post-to-post. He also wasn’t reading the play as well. Those two aspects are normally his strengths. Both were working well on Wednesday.

That save proved crucial because the Bruins allowed a power-play goal in the third period, but Boston held on for a 3-2 win over the Eastern Conference’s top-seeded team. It’s the type of save that will give a struggling goalie confidence. It also rejuvenates the team’s confidence in its goalie when he’s making those types of timely saves.

“Those are the saves that people expect you to make," Rask said. "(If we lose) you talk about after the game, ‘He should’ve saved that to keep that lead’ and now you talk that it’s a timely save, so it’s always something you want to do, and you try to do, and hopefully more often than not you save those.

“It’s one of those saves that you slide in there and try to get everything in front of the puck as possible. It’s one of those you do everything you can to have pads in there and this time it hit me.”

Key save a needed confidence boost

Not only was it timely, but to make that stop in the waning seconds of a period when the ice is terrible and a goalie can’t slide across as well, was even more impressive.

“If I wasn’t standing still on the original pass, maybe I could have gotten a better push but I got there enough," Rask said.

During Rask’s recent struggles, Bruce Cassidy often talked about the goalie needing to make one more save during a game, or the team needing to score one more goal to help out its netminder. On Wednesday, the Bruins had both.

“He helped himself big time tonight,” Cassidy said of Rask. “That’s what we need. It’s an imperfect game. We’re not going to be mistake-free every night. We’d like to correct some of those things, especially with a lead, but he was really good there. I’m sure it affected his confidence too between periods. It has to when you make big saves. It’s what you’re paid to do, right?”

Why Cassidy started Rask

Entering this game, many wondered why Cassidy wouldn’t stick with backup Anton Khudobin, who has played extremely well this season and boasts a 7-0-2 record, along with a 2.22 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage. Win or lose this game, starting Rask was the right decision. It was the right decision to start him on Sunday against the Oilers, and even though the Bruins lost that game 4-2, Rask played well. It served as a good warmup before he faced the Lightning.

The easy decision would have been to appease the popular choice and go with Khudobin. The question Cassidy and his coaching staff asked was what’s better for the short- and long-term blueprint for the Bruins? The answer is Rask.

The ingredients of a goalie controversy are when a team has a veteran, who normally carries with him an expensive contract, along with a talented and hungry prospect that wants the No. 1 job. There have been plenty of examples throughout the league in past few seasons.

Case in point: In Pittsburgh, it was Matt Murray and Marc-Andre Fleury. In Tampa, it was Ben Bishop and Andrei Vasilevskiy.

In Boston, it’s Rask and Khudobin, who is a career backup. There’s no prospect in the organization ready to make that push. It’s all Rask right now and if the Bruins are to have any type of success they’re going to live and die with him.

There’s no connection between the Bruins playing their best hockey of the season in front of Khudobin. It’s simply a case of circumstance. A pro hockey player will not decide to play better because a certain goalie is in net. Forwards and defensemen may play differently with a certain goalie based on his style, but a team doesn’t up its compete level anymore for one goalie over the next.

Rask is the type of goalie who has success with a solid product in front of him. He's fundamentally sound and when he’s dialed in, he has the ability to make it look easy. Is he an elite goalie? He did win a Vezina Trophy. Can he win a big game on hockey’s biggest stage during the Stanley Cup playoffs? He hasn’t done it. It’s uncertain if he will.

Competition should boost Bruins

Let’s stick to the here and now. Khudobin’s success this season has done exactly what it was supposed to accomplish. It’s given the Bruins points when the No. 1 was struggling. It also created internal competition and Rask finally responded to the challenge.

“If we get both goalies at the top of their game, we’re going to be a really good hockey team,” Cassidy said.

Moving forward, the schedule bodes well for the Bruins. Cassidy has to stick with Rask right now. He has a 12-2-3 record in 18 career games against the Philadelphia Flyers. He has a 4-1-2 record in eight career games against the Nashville Predators. He’s 9-1-0 in 10 career games against the Arizona Coyotes and 10-5-0 against the New York Islanders. And, he’s 9-5-2 in 17 career games against the Detroit Red Wings. Those are Boston’s next five opponents.

Maybe this win against the Lightning will get him going. It was the right decision, win or lose, to start Rask.

“I think he’s going to feel good about it and sleep well tonight,” Cassidy said with a smile.