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Emily KaplanESPN
ST. LOUIS – The Boston Bruins are about to be eliminated on Sunday, Tuukka Rask was a great success.
Perhaps you have already heard this story.
Rask was once again outstanding for Boston, making 28 saves – including one that he missed – as the Bruins defeated the St. Louis Blues 5-1 in the sixth game to force a seventh game on Wednesday.
This is a well-known trend for Boston in the playoffs: Trust the 32-year-old Finn when it matters most. In games 6 and 7 of the first round series against Toronto, when Boston has to deal with the elimination, and the match 6 of Sunday, Rask is 3-0, with a score of 1.33 and GAA. 953. Rask allowed only four goals in 178.81 minutes of play.
"It's one of the main reasons we're in this position," said teammate Patrice Bergeron. "He was really in the zone."
Defender Charlie McAvoy added, "He just comes in when it's important, and we have every confidence in him, and seeing him play like he did, it's really not a surprise." for us, we believe in him so much, and we know what kind of person and player he is, he is our rock. "
It was all the more impressive considering the atmosphere in St. Louis. Before the face-off, nearly 30,000 spectators gathered at a downtown square surrounding the arena. The crowd buzzed as the Blues attempted to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. St. Louis came out aggressively on failure before, maintained possession of the ball and made the first numerical advantage as he started the match with a 5-1 lead. Rask took it from there.
St. Louis finished 0-4 on the power play. Many Bruins players have called Rask their best penalty taker.
"We eliminated that penalty in the first period, which is huge," Rask said. "The last time we were here, they scored 30 seconds, obviously you do not want it to happen again, we've weathered the storm pretty well before taking the advantage, it was a good start."
The thoughtlessness of Rask was evident in these playoffs. In the interviews of the first round so far, he has never faltered. He breathed confidence and calm.
With another outstanding performance on Sunday, Rask was catapulted to the Conn Smythe Trophy favorite as the most valuable playoff player. After all, no goalie played as many games in the playoffs as Rask's 22, while posting a better save percentage than his current score of 0.941. Coincidentally, the goalkeeper who previously held this record? Tim Thomas, who led Boston to his most recent Stanley Cup in 2011 with a .940 save percentage in 25 games. Rask was the backup of this team.
Rask scored two and a half goals in the shutout and was on the verge of becoming the fourth goalie of the past 60 years to record a shutout on the road while facing an elimination in the Stanley Cup final. The other members of this elusive group: Tim Thomas, Ed Balfour and Patrick Roy.
Rask's most ridiculous stops may have occurred in the second period, when a puck bounced off the post and deflected behind Rask's back before McAvoy pushed her back.
Rask had already seen a rebroadcast when he met with reporters.
"I did not know where he was, and I thought maybe it would be somewhere behind me, so I just tried to corrode it with my hand behind my back – then that m & # 39; "Stuck in my pants, then it fell somewhere," Rask said. "I think Chucky did a good game to keep him out of goal, and it's never a good thing for a goalkeeper to deal with the game with your back, but luckily he stayed at the game. # 39; gap ".
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