BOSTON -- At one point during the Boston Bruins’ morning skate Wednesday at TD Garden, both Bruin goaltenders, Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin, needed to go to the bench for different reasons as the team prepared for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Rask was working on shooting drills when teammate Shawn Thornton elevated one of his shots and it hit the goalie on the right shoulder near the collarbone area. Rask yelled out a choice word, skated to the bench and slammed his stick against the boards. He was clearly in some discomfort but he was able to return to the drills.
“He’s fine,” said Bruins coach Claude Julien. “We didn’t want him falling in front of the door when he went out of his crease, and I told him, ‘You’re making me look bad. I told everybody you were normal. But I did tell them you had a temper, so you’re OK.’ No issues.”
Earlier in this series, Julien described Rask as the most normal goalie he’s ever had as a coach, but admitted he does have a temper at times, so that’s what the coach was referring to.
While Rask was shaking off the stinger, Khudobin had an equipment issue and needed one of his skates fixed. The Bruins’ third goalie, Niklas Svedberg, did not participate in the skate Wednesday morning.
In his past eight playoff games, Rask is 7-1 with a 1.77 goals-against average and a .938 save percentage.