CHICAGO – It was a period that looked so good from the Chicago Blackhawks bench that coach Joel Quenneville would later describe it as “perfect.”
Thanks to Tuukka Rask, it might also have been the 20 minutes that saved the Boston Bruins season.
The Bruins goaltender was the only player in black and gold prepared to perform when the puck dropped on Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final. He was under siege with a 19-shot barrage from the Blackhawks and impressively managed to allow just one of those to get behind him (even that came right after three or four impressive stops).
So when the Boston players retreated to the visiting dressing room at the first intermission trailing just 1-0, they felt extremely fortunate. And they knew exactly who to thank.
“If somebody would watch the first period, they would say `Oh, give (Chicago) the Cup right now,”‘ Bruins winger Jaromir Jagr said after Saturday’s 2-1 overtime victory.
Instead, we now have a series.
There was every chance that might not be the case after Boston came out with heavy legs following the triple overtime loss in the series opener. Tyler Seguin joked that the team may have forgotten what time the game was supposed to start.
However, it was no laughing matter for coach Claude Julien.
“We just weren’t there,” he said. “We were on our heels. They had total control of that (first) period and Tuukka kept us in there. … Like I told our guys, we’ve got to show up on time for these kind of games.
“It could have cost us tonight.”
Rask couldn’t have been any more composed in the crease, stopping Jonathan Toews on a sneaky chance in the game’s first minute and building from there. He got his glove on a Nick Leddy shot a few minutes later and stood tall when Patrick Sharp briefly found himself all alone in front.
With the ice tilted heavily in his direction throughout that stanza, Rask knew that he had to pick up his teammates.
“We definitely were in survival mode there for a bit,” he said. “It looked like they had more guys out there than we did. They were pouncing on every single puck in front of the net and had a lot of chances. We definitely played pretty bad.”
There was some tough talk in the Bruins room after the first period ended with Chicago leading 19-4 on the shots counter.
They couldn’t let Rask’s stellar play go to waste.
Even though this franchise has demonstrated plenty of resiliency in recent years, this was not a game Boston could afford to lose. The response was swift as they held the Blackhawks to just 15 shots over the next 53 minutes before Daniel Paille ended the game in overtime.
“We were really lucky,” said defenceman Seidenberg. “If you look at the first period they had so many chances. We didn’t play well in front of Tuukka, but Tuukka saved us.”
Rask’s performance over the last couple weeks has been every bit as impressive as what former teammate Tim Thomas accomplished in 2011 and Jonathan Quick did last year. This guy looks virtually unbeatable and has the inside track on becoming the third straight goalie to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.
The stretch has been so dominant that it’s even carried over to the off days.
“There’s no question about it, when you have a good goalie — a confident goalie — it gives you extra confidence for the team,” said Jagr. “When the goalies are in the zone, it doesn’t matter how good you are, it’s tough to score on them.
“You can see it in practices. I don’t think I’ve scored. I didn’t score in the games (and) I’ve got a tough time to score in practice.”
By now, the Bruins have basically come to expect that sort of thing from the Finn.
Rask and Chicago counterpart Corey Crawford seem destined to finish 1-2 in both save percentage and goals-against average during these playoffs. They’ll basically flip flop in those categories based on the outcome of each game in this series.
The most important part of Rask’s solid play early in Game 2 was that it gave his teammates enough time to get comfortable in uncomfortable surroundings at United Center.
“We told ourselves that we have to wake up — it’s the Stanley Cup final,” said Seidenberg. “You don’t get here too many times in your life. So it’s now or never.”
Jagr got a sneak peek of what was to come this spring while playing at home in the Czech Republic during the NHL lockout. One game in particular stands out for him — the one where his Kladno team went up against Rask and Plzen.
“I had one penalty shot and (you should) ask him what happened,” said Jagr, slowly breaking into a big smile.
“Top shelf.”
There haven’t been too many pucks that have got behind Rask since.