Bedard: Tuukka Rask has his Tim Thomas moment in Game 6, own legacy will be cemented in Game 7

Tuukka Rask has had one of the more curious career arcs for a Boston pro athlete.

A backup to Tim Thomas during the Bruins' last run to a Stanley Cup in 2011, Rask quickly stepped in as a starter once Thomas went tinfoil on everyone after the 2012 season, and Rask looked like such a natural that the Bruins handed him a megabucks contract extension after his first season as the starter. He made the Bruins look brilliant, as Rask won the Vezina Trophy in just his second season as the starter the following season.

From that point on, Rask was mostly very good, but the Bruins constantly fell short of expectations. And despite not having a ton of talent available on the blue line, Rask's performances split Bruins fans down the middle as far as his worth to the team.

Part of it had to do with his contract — when you're among the highest-paid players at your position, the expectations will be sky high; it's nothing personal. Some of it had to do with his playing style, which was low on the flashy plays but among the best in the league when it came to positioning and playing the angles. And there was also the Thomas factor.

Bruins fans and media had witnessed one of the greatest Stanley Cup goalie performances in league history in 2011. After the Bruins dropped the first two games of the series, Thomas stopped 175 of 179 shots (.978 save percentage) and posted two shutouts, including a 37-save virtuoso performance in Game 7 on the road, to end the Bruins' Cup drought at 39 years.

Anything anyone put up in comparison would come up woefully short.

That was the backdrop as Rask and Bruins entered a do-or-die Game 6 on Sunday night in St. Louis.

Lose and not play well, and Rask's legacy would have been cemented as a lesser-Thomas. Win and play well, and Rask would have a chance to match his mentor and cement his legacy as a Cup winner — and possible Conn Smythe winner — in Game 7.

What happened?

Tuukka Rask had his Tim Thomas moment in the Bruins' eventual 5-1 victory and stands on the precipice of writing his own story.

Some will try to pour water on it, especially given the final score, but Game 6 was The Tuukka Rask Game. Now we wait for the encore.

Some will say legacies are not built on 5-1 victories, but those simple-minded few will be wrong. While the Bruins' stagnant offense continued to putter around for much of the early going — they needed a 5 on 3 power play to give themselves the slimmest of leads, Rask kept on thwarting a Blues onslaught in front of their home folks.

The Bruins only would produce two high-danger chances the entire game. The Blues, who had four power plays in the first two periods (the Bruins really only had one in the overlapping two-man advantage), had 13. St. Louis also had 27 scoring chances to Boston's 20. As a result, the Blues had an expected goal rate of nearly three in this game (2.82). Rask allowed one, and he was about 2 inches from stopping that one as well.

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"He’s our best player, and he has been all playoffs,” Charlie McAvoy said.

For nearly the entire game, Rask looked nearly impenetrable. Among the many highlights:

— Not even three minutes into the game, Patrick Maroon found Tyler Bozak in front but Rask was perfectly positioned.



— Less than three minutes later an on the power play, Brayden Schenn thought he put back a rebound to give the Blues an early lead, but Rask had his best save of the game as he stuck out his right pad to deny Schenn.

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— With the Bruins leading 1-0 early in the second period, Schenn was again stymied by Rask one a one-timer high to the glove side with a lot of open net.

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— Then there was the Stick of God play with 10:04 left in the second, again on a Blues power play, when Alex Pietrangelo raised his hands in celebration for his backhand rebound. What he didn't know was that the puck went off the post, off Rask's back toward the net before McAvoy batted it out and onto Rask's backside and out.

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“It hit the post, and then kinda like – it was bouncing there – I think Chucky hit it with his stick,” Rask said, “and I kinda heard it. I didn't know where it was, and I figured it might be somewhere behind me, so I just tried to corral it with my hand behind my back -- and then it stuck in my pants, and then it fell somewhere. I think Chucky made a great play to keep it out of the net originally, and – it's never a good thing for a goalie to kinda be facing the play with your back, but luckily it stayed out.”

Those are among the heroics that bought the Bruins time to add to their lead, which they did on Brandon Carlo's prayer bouncer through Jordan Binnington and Karson Kuhlman's snipe with less than 10 minutes to play in the game.

At that point, the Bruins led 3-0 and Game 7 was all but assured.

Forget the final score. That's the impact Rask had on this game.

“We did have some good chances, but we need the result,” said Ryan O’Reilly, who has gotten one past Rask in three straight games. “We have to be better.”

Said Alexander Steen: “We’ve got to get more pucks to the net, a little bit more traffic and get one of those really dirty ones. It was a tight game. I think when it’s like that we need to get to the inside a bit more, create some traffic, make it tougher.”

Rask is now 5-0 with a .973 save percentage in elimination/close-out situations in this postseason.

Game 7, the first in a Stanley Cup Final since Thomas' shutout eight years ago, will be yet another opportunity for Rask to add to those numbers.

Rask had his Tim Thomas Game on Sunday night.

He can end all the Thomas comparisons on Wednesday night with a Cup of his own.