Tuukka Rask might just be getting started, Clifton’s unsung heroics & other leftover thoughts from Bruins/Capitals

With the Bruins punching their ticket to the next round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, here are four leftover thoughts from Boston’s five-game gentleman’s sweep of the Capitals.

Tuukka Rask got better and better as the series went on

Man, remember *checks calendar* about a week ago, when people were ready to swap out Tuukka Rask for Jeremy Swayman after one overtime loss?

Cooler heads have prevailed since then (and this is coming from a noted Swayman stan), with Rask casually stopping 130 of the final 137 shots that came his way in the series — with a dominant Game 5 performance (40 saves on 41 shots) serving as an emphatic stamp on an impressive first-round showing for Boston’s top netminder. 

"It seemed like we were okay even though it was in our zone,” Bruce Cassidy said postgame on Sunday. “We weren't running around, we stuck to the structure and tonight was one of those nights they didn't get one to rattle around. A lot of their other shots in the first parts of the games of the series … we've had a couple going off our own guys, a couple of funny deflections. I don't know, you almost felt like tonight those weren't gonna happen. They were gonna have to beat Tuukka clean.”

Unlike other series in which lesser netminders like Ilya Samsonov or Tristan Jarry relinquished “gimmie” goals by failing to glove pucks or coughing up rebounds, very few of the tallies that the Caps managed to score against Rask came without deflections or bodies in front. 

And even with the Capitals making a priority out of clogging up the low slot in search of said tips, deflections and rebounds, Rask was still more than up to the task when it came to turning aside most of the quality looks that came his way — with the veteran ranking third among starting netminders (min. 300 minutes of ice time) this postseason in high-danger save percentage at .895. 

(Only Marc-Andre Fleury and Philipp Grubeauer have better HDSV% at .921 and .909, respectively.)

“Tuukka, he just seemed very composed in there and sure of himself,” Cassidy said. “And it makes it easier for I think everybody when you see your goalie completely under control and looks like they're not going to get a pea by him for the most part.”

Perhaps most encouraging for Boston is the fact that Rask seemed to get better and better as the series went along, with the fantastic @Bruins_Stats noting that Boston’s goalie saw his goals saved above expectation rise with each contest. 

Of course, the basic eye test will also tell you that Rask rarely looked rattled in these contests, with the netminder doing a fantastic job at tracking the puck through a mass of big bodies and sealing off posts when the puck was bouncing down low.

The road ahead is going to only get harder, but if Rask can continue to keep up this level of play, Boston is going to be a tough out for even the most imposing foe. 

Clifton the unsung hero in Round 1

While Boston’s top stars like Rask, Patrice Bergeron, David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy and others all made their mark in this series, numerous other contributors all stepped up and pulled on the rope in the five-game set against Washington — whether it be offensive contributions from Jake DeBrusk on the third line, a few bruising performances from the fourth line in Games 4 and 5 and a shorthanded D corps embracing a next-man-up mentality following injuries to Jeremy Lauzon and Kevan Miller. 

“Let's face it — our top guys came through tonight and our soldiers were good," Cassidy said. "I thought again, the Kuraly group, Lazar, Wagner  — they did what they had to do to keep the other team at bay. They killed some penalties. Tinordi comes in and does a good job, plays hard. 

“I thought Connor Clifton showed good poise being kind of the leader on that pair. Not too often Connor gets to be that guy, but I thought he did a nice job  with the puck and commanding situations and taking control, so good to see the growth of the next-man-up mentality.”

There might be many deserving candidates, but if we had to pick one unsung hero in this series, it’d have to be Clifton — who jumped into this series as a replacement for Lauzon and simply dominated despite some daunting minutes. 

Clifton was largely thrown into the fire upon entering the lineup, earning plenty of minutes against the Capitals’ imposing top-six unit and having just 29.73% of his faceoffs set in the offensive zone. 

But despite those tough starts, Boston still managed to excel when Clifton was on the ice, with the B’s holding a 3-0 edge in goals scored during the Quinnipiac defenseman’s 59:55 of 5v5 ice time. Of course, not only was Clifton able to snuff out scoring chances against the likes of Alex Ovechkin and other Washington big guns, but he also managed to dole out some trademark “Cliffy Hockey” highlights via some heavy checks. 

While Boston’s blue line could get some reinforcements in time for the second round, it sure seems like Clifton won’t be slotted out of the starting lineup any time soon. 

Sizing up Chara’s game

If one was to take a quick glance at the underlying numbers for Zdeno Chara in this past series, you’d think that the future Hall of Famer still more than held his own as a shutdown presence on Washington’s blue line. 

During Chara’s 58:49 of 5v5 ice time, the Capitals held a 43-22 edge in shots on goal and a 3-2 edge in goals scored. Not too shabby.

However, it should be important to note that Boston didn’t really chase matchups when Chara was out on the ice, with Boston’s top line rarely earning extended head-to-head matchups against their former captain — with Bergeron and Chara out on the ice together for exactly … 5:07 of 5v5 ice time in FIVE games. 

Instead, Chara was primarily matched up against Boston’s bottom-six grouping, namely Charlie Coyle (24:24) — with Chara only averaging 16:16 of ice time in Washington’s first-round exit. 

Chara’s playoff battle against his former club might have been one of the top storylines entering this series, but the veteran defenseman was largely an afterthought once the puck dropped. 

Still, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Cassidy and Co. were ready to dole out plenty of praise after besting Chara in this series. 

"I'm sure I'll have an opportunity to talk to Zee about the series,” Cassidy said. “Listen, he played his game in the series. He had his long stick in the PK. They play different than us. So Zee in a man-to-man system, he's been playing layers for a lot of years. So it'd be interesting, to be honest, to have a conversation with him about what he thought — because coaches are always tinkering. 

“I like our system, but I'm just curious what he thinks. Because he's been in both now. He does his job. He's out there banging. He had a good hit, I think it was on Smitty early on, trying to send a message. So that's Zee.”

Good news (and bad news) on injury front

On Monday morning, Don Sweeney provides some updates on Boston’s banged-up blue line — noting that both Lauzon and Jakub Zboril could both be back in time for a second-round series against either Pittsburgh or Long Island. 

"Our hope is that they'll both be available for the next series,” Sweeney said. “Again, we'll probably have a better understanding Wednesday on how they continue to progress and get on the ice. Until they're in a practice with the main group, we won't really know, but hopefully we get a little extra time and they can move along in the healing process. Then obviously getting up to full speed to become fully available for us." 

As expected, Miller is a bit more of a wild card after suffering a likely concussion during Game 4. It can be difficult to map out an accurate recovery timeline when it comes to brain injuries, but the rugged defenseman could potentially draw back in if Boston is able to extend its season by at least a few more weeks. 

“Latest update, doing okay, still early in the recovery phase,” Sweeney said of Miller. “We’ll probably know as the week goes along how he progresses. He’s obviously back home. When he’s in the facility, we’ll check in. But it’s still early in the process." 

And while the door remains open for those three defenseman to eventually return in due time, the news isn’t as bright when it comes to Ondrej Kase and Steven Kampfer — with Sweeney confirming that both skaters are done for the remainder of the season. 

Kampfer, who has served admirably as a key depth piece for Boston’s D corps, elected to have hand surgery and will be unavailable moving forward — while Kase’s comeback attempt from a likely concussion back in January ended up only lasting two periods of hockey earlier this month.

For Kase in particular, it’s a brutal break — especially considering his absence after his removal from his return on May 10 was tabbed as more of a “conditioning” issue, rather than a return of concussion-related symptoms. Clearly that wasn’t the case, given that Kase failed to return to any on-ice practices with his teammates after this latest setback.

While you could make the case that Kase was the outside looking in on a starting role given DeBrusk’s strong play at 3RW, it’s still an awful situation for a player that did all he could to try and salvage a lost season.