Ryan: Turns out a banged-up Tuukka Rask is still really, really, really good

In a sea of Zoom conferences this spring in which have players have regularly tossed out cliched retorts and coaches treat their lineup cards like Treadstone intel from a Bourne flick — the Bruins are often refreshingly candid when it comes to these virtual chats, be it Bruce Cassidy’s transparent commentary on his roster or Tuukka Rask and Brad Marchand's candid declarations.

So rather than dispel the ongoing narrative regarding his health and the suspected ailments that he’s trudging through during Boston’s promising Cup run, Boston’s No. 1 netminder shot straight when fielding questions on Thursday night. 

Even though the doom and gloom surrounding Rask’s status this postseason might be more fear-mongering than actual pragmatic commentary on the veteran goalie, he reiterated once again that he’s still not completely healthy at this juncture of the season. 

"It's always good to have a little extra rest between the games, I guess — no matter if you're injured or not,” Rask said. “I think the season has been very hectic overall. But as far as my health goes — I guess as long as I'm out there, it's good enough. That's, I guess, the only thing I could say.”

Nooooot the most encouraging remark — at least when it comes to quelling the usual discourse that will likely loom over this Bruins playoff run until the final seconds of Boston’s season drains off the clock. 

But if Rask is going to be forthright and frank — so should we.

Because, yes, Rask certainly isn’t at 100 percent at this stage of the 2021 campaign. He may not be even at 90 percent. We could check back with the goalie once the season wraps and he could reveal that he’s been saddled with some major injury for months now — and it wouldn’t really come as much of a surprise. 

But based on what we’ve seen so far this postseason — even a banged-up Rask is better than what most of the rest of the NHL can roll out in net this season. And it’s certainly good enough for a Bruins team that’s going to have to rely on him heavily if it wants to lift Lord Stanley's Cup in July. 

After laboring at times during Boston’s Game 2 overtime loss to the Islanders, Rask looked no worse for wear on Thursday night in a raucous Nassau Coliseum. 

Even though the B’s goalie didn’t face nearly the same salvo of shots that Boston generated against Semyon Varlamov (39 saves on 41 shots), Rask didn’t blink in a grinding, defensive bout that typically favors Barry Trotz’ club nine times out of 10 during a playoff series. 

Rask was the equalizer on Thursday, stopping 28 of the 29 shots that came his way and giving his team a chance to win things in overtime — setting the stage for Marchand’s snipe to secure a 2-1 triumph for the visiting club.

And while Rask was unable to prevent Mat Barzal from stuffing home a biscuit at 14:34 in the third period, the fact of the matter is that Boston wouldn’t even be in position to secure a 3-1 stranglehold on this series Saturday if it wasn’t for Rask’s ability to keep New York at bay while his teammates struggled to solve Varlamov. 

Rask, now up to a .934 save percentage through eight games this postseason, relinquished just one tally despite the Islanders generating an expected goals rate of 3.00 on the night — meaning that Rask essentially prevented two more goals than what was expected, given the quality of New York’s shots and scoring chances.

While two breakaway stops on Anthony Beauvillier headlined Rask’s strong play during regulation — he saved his best for OT, denying both Jordan Eberle and Barzal just 2:08 into the fourth period. 

Just 1:28 after Rask kept Boston in the fight, Marchand ended it with his sharp-angle snipe down the other end of the ice. 

“He was rock solid. ... Looked really good in overtime, square to the shooters,” Cassidy said of Rask. “Any rebounds, he was resetting. I thought on the PK he held his ice when he had to, so a lot of good things. I thought it was a great goaltender game by their guy and our guy and that's why you get a 1-1 into overtime. That's what you expect in the playoffs.”

Of course, it wasn’t just Rask alone that bailed out Boston in the defensive zone — with Cassidy also crediting his layers of defense for both preventing pucks from reaching Rask’s doorstep and cleaner breakouts helping to avoid those punishing forechecking sequences from the Isles.

Even without Brandon Carlo for a majority of the third period, Boston’s D corps made things difficult for the Isles, headlined by another dominant showing from Charlie McAvoy (29:11 TOI, six hits, five blocks). 

"I liked our game in that regard. I mean, our guys are always willing to block shots... All in all, our structure in terms of protecting those turn-up plays to the slot and their D late, mostly pretty good,” Cassidy said. “I don't recall a lot of point blankers in the slot where we had big breakdowns. We were worse the other night in that area. ... Yes, I liked our structure a lot away from the puck and through the neutral zone.

“Breakdowns were a lot less than the other night and I think it showed in the scoring chances against and in the shot clock and our ability to get going the other way as well.”

Of course, the road for Boston is only going to get tougher from here — be it an Islanders team not wanting to fall into a 3-1 hole on Saturday in their own barn, or looking down the road at teams like the Lightning and Avalanche. 

That’s a bruuuuuutal path for any club to fight through in order to reach hockey immortality and hoist the greatest trophy in sports. 

It’s a gauntlet that’s going to require Rask’s greatest effort yet — and one that, in a perfect scenario, would have the star goalie at his peak from a physical standpoint. 

But in hockey, just about nothing goes according to plan. 

After all, it’s a sport where a series, a season or a legacy can be decided by one fortuitous bouncing puck. Where a Presidents’ Trophy is labeled more as a curse than a noteworthy achievement. 

And where a banged-up goalie can still put together one hell of a run.