Bruins' breakout aided by rebound control

Tuukka Rask has registered 10 assists in his career, and he’ll admit many of them were the direct result of his rebound control.

“Oh, yeah, probably,” he said. “There have been a few, but you really don’t pay attention to that, it just happens. You don’t even realize you’ve made a save and next thing you know you have an assist. It happens occasionally.”



It nearly occurred during the second period of Saturday’s 3-1 win over the New York Islanders at TD Garden. A shot came from his right, he redirected with his left pad towards the blue line and the Bruins created a quality-scoring chance at the other end.

Rebound control is so important in the NHL and Rask has always been solid in this department. Time and again during Saturday’s game, he was directing pucks and it helped the Bruins’ breakout.

“In a lot of cases it means we can break out clean from our own end and that’s a huge help,” admitted Rask. “The less time we’re spending (in our end) the better it is and lately it’s been pretty good.”

Bruce Cassidy and goaltender Bob Essensa spoke with the goaltenders during training camp and asked them to play the puck more this season, to become a third defenseman when possible, which makes it difficult on the opposition’s forecheck.

Both Rask and Anton Khudobin have done a better job in that aspect this season. As far as the intentional rebound that serves as a pass, it’s not something that’s preached by the coaching staff.

“That’s a skill for goalies to be able to control the rebound and start the breakout,” Cassidy said. “You have to have a certain level of hockey sense and understand what’s going on around you. There obviously can’t be a wave of their players coming. It’s instinctual.”

Normally, goalies are the first ones on the ice for practice. Rask and Khudobin, along with Essensa and a couple of shooters, will be out 15-20 minutes prior to the start of practice. They’ll run through a few different warmup drills and eventually finish with rebound control. Even during practice, goalies are constantly working on controlling their rebounds. Goalies face hundreds of shots and get plenty of reps during practice to work on that skill.

“It’s something you practice a lot,” Rask said. “I try to practice with those angle shots. When it’s a clear shot from the wing you try to do your best to control it and not give that rebound in the slot – that’s what everybody at least expects you to do. Whenever it’s a clean shot you try to be as clean as possible, but a lot of times pucks are bouncing, hitting sticks and skates, so it’s tough to control.

“A lot of times if there’s a scramble and a lot of people in front, they try to shoot for that far pad, so I tend to try to kick it back out the same way it came from. If, for some reason, it goes to the wide guy, I can’t make that save anymore because I’m out of the net. A lot of times you try to steer it back to the direction it came from and it works pretty well.”

If a goalie can keep the rebound in front of him, or kick it back in the same direction, as Rask explained, it cuts down on his movement and allows him to stay in a better position and under control, instead of running around.

Equipment also plays a major role in rebound control. Most goalies will go through two sets of pads during the season. Both Rask and Khudobin use Vaughn pads. Rask’s are designed a bit softer for better control, while Khudobin’s are harder with an almost trampoline effect.

“(Mine) get softer over time,” Rask said. “Dobby’s are way harder than mine, actually. Those new ones spit (rebounds) out hard. I don’t like (my pads) to be too hard because then you have no idea where it’s going. I like these because a lot of times the puck stays in front of you and you can cover it. You don’t have to put any extra effort into it.”

Khudobin has used both styles but he’s had better success with the ones he’s wearing now.

“They are a different design than (Tuukka’s),” Khudobin said. “I actually like his too and I used to play in them. These are a little bit harder inside. They came from the factory like this and I like it, but they give pretty big, fast rebounds.”

Since Khudobin plays a completely different style than Rask, the Russian backup tends to have issues with his rebounds, which allows opponents secondary chances from the slot. When he’s at his best controlling those rebounds, he’s able to kick them into the corners or up the half wall.

“Sometimes, yes, I try to but other times it’s not a good idea because if it hits really fast then (the puck) is going to be all over the place, instead of a soft rebound where you have time to move to where the puck is,” Khudobin said.

It’s no coincidence the Bruins, winner of eight of their last 10 games, have had better success on their breakouts, and a lot of that has to do with the goalies doing a solid job of controlling their rebounds.