Tuukka Rask continues to make the big stop when the Bruins need it the most

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In general, if a goalkeeper gives up three goals in the third period, it will be hard to say that he has made a good match. But in the Bruins' 4-3 win in the fifth game, Saturday night, against the Blue Jackets, Tuukka Rask scored three goals in the third period and still had a very good game, continuing his astonishing career in this series and his very good playoff total. .

Some of Rask's best moments came in the second period, a period that was problematic for the Bruins throughout the post-season. While the Bruins led 1-0 and Sergei Bobrovsky made two big saves at the other end of the ice, the Blue Jackets increased the pressure and felt like they might be on the point of making a breakthrough.

But Rask had other ideas. The first match was marked by two decisive stops on Cam Atkinson, while Rask swept the back of the net and Atkinson was unable to lift the puck over his carpet.

Then the Blue Jackets went on the power play and Nick Foligno was found with a golden chance just after dancing around Zdeno Chara. He tried to slide Rask in one direction before passing the puck past his back leg, but Rask maintained his position enough to keep his left leg in an ideal position to perform a great rescue.

Rask may have dropped three goals in the third period, but he could not have done much to stop that. The first was a Seth Jones shot from Matt Grzelcyk's stick and barely pushing behind Rask – even after a video watch, it was hard to see clearly that the puck had been returned, but league officials had seemingly seen enough to reverse the goal, call on the ice and give it a goal.

The second was a shot fired by Ryan Dzingel, who fired a shot over Rask's shoulder as it slid on his crease. Maybe you could argue that Rask could have taken a little more space, but it would still have been a difficult stop considering the placement of Dzingel. The third was just an absolute rocket in the top corner of Dean Kukan that no goalie was going to stop.

Just in case there was any doubt that Rask was coming off the match, he made a nice save on an opportunity from Josh Anderson when he scored 3-3, then a huge save on Atkinson when he was in the lead. he remained in the crease at 15 seconds from the end preserving the 4-3 win.

Rask now has a .932 save percentage this season, the third-best goalkeepers who has played at least five games and his best mark in a single season since winning .940 in the Bruins' run in the final. 2013 Stanley Cup.

He was particularly good on high risk odds like those described above, as he has a .867 stopping percentage on high risk odds in all situations and a .899 mark at 5 out of 5. To put this in perspective, only two goaltenders were better than .867 in all regular season situations, and none ranged from 0.89 to 5-on-5.

In two tight series, the Bruins needed Rask to be at his best, and he was. He makes the stops that he is supposed to do, and he escapes his teammates on the most dangerous occasions, as far as one could reasonably expect.

We know that goodwill will disappear if Rask plays badly or certainly a bad run. Boston fans are wayward like this. Many will not be satisfied until Rask has played this way in a Stanley Cup win.

But for now, everyone is on top, and on Saturday night, Rask even received a "Tuukka! Tuukka!" singing of the garden crowd. He is the main reason why they are at an Eastern Conference finals win, and the enemies are drowned.

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