Training Camp Daily | B's Have Luxury in Goal

BOSTON - Tuukka Rask revealed on Tuesday afternoon that a fractured finger has hampered him throughout training camp and was the ailment that caused him to exit two practices last week. Boston's ace netminder said he suffered the injury while box jumping during a workout a few weeks back but does not seem concerned that it will sideline him once round-robin games begin in early August.

"It's getting better, so I'm not worried about it," said Rask. "It will be all set once we start playing…I slammed my finger at the end of the box and it slammed the ligament, kind of fractured the finger - small fracture. It's nothing major. You can imagine, not gonna feel great to catch pucks with that."

Rask, who was named a Vezina Trophy finalist late last week, could be seen wearing some sort of splint on his fingers during a Zoom video call with fellow finalists Connor Hellebuyck and Andrei Vasilevskiy on Friday afternoon. The 33-year-old did not practice on Saturday and was termed "unfit to participate."

"I've had the same kind of thing in my blocker hand," said Rask. "When the pucks hit that it just gets soar. But this is a glove hand now so it's a little different, but I'm not worried about it. One of those things that's gonna linger a little bit. It's been two or three weeks now and it already feels a lot better so I'm pretty optimistic within a week that I'll have my normal glove on."

The Finnish backstop had one of the best seasons of his career in 2019-20, posting a 28-8-6 record while leading the NHL in goals against average (2.12) and save percentage (.929) and ranking second in shutouts (5). Rask and Jaroslav Halak combined to allow the fewest goals in the league (167 in 70 games), winning them the William M. Jennings Trophy.

"It's a luxury that we have that we have two good goalies that can share the net. It's worked out great for us," Rask said about his relationship with Halak, who ranked sixth in the NHL with a 2.39 GAA.

The duo's dominance over the past two seasons will give Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy options during the team's three-game round robin against Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, and Washington. With such an unusual postseason ahead, Cassidy and his goalies believe it's likely that multiple netminders will see action between the pipes.

"As far as the playoffs are concerned, you never know," said Rask. "You lay off for four months and then you go right into playoff hockey, there might be some injuries, some nagging injuries, your groins, hips. I think that's part of the reason teams are allowed to have an unlimited amount of goalies on their roster now.

"I'd be surprised if you saw goalies play every minute of every game during these playoffs because the situation is so different. But you never know, looking forward to it to see what happens."

Halak, who has not played in a postseason contest since 2015 with the New York Islanders, is preparing for every scenario. The 35-year-old was 18-6-6 in 31 games during 2019-20.

"I'm just gonna take it day by day," said Halak, who briefly skated off the ice and slammed his stick after taking a shot in an unprotected area on Tuesday. "I haven't been told anything. I'm open-minded to pretty much anything. It's gonna be unique for everyone. Every team is in the same situation, every goalie. We all have to shift focus right now from having three, four months off to playing again, start playing real games.

"I think it's gonna be fun. But it's gonna take a few games to get back into rhythm…I always say we are here as a team, whether it's with me or Tuukks in net we want to win. That's the case now again."

Cassidy confirmed following Tuesday's practice that Halak will see time during the round-robin portion of the schedule so that the Bruins have both goalies ready to play at any time during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Boston's bench boss added that it's possible the duo splits time during the B's exhibition contest against Columbus on July 30.

"We have to get him ready as well as Tuukka," said Cassidy. "I don't know how it will play out exactly yet. He'll get in there. We need him ready for the playoffs as well, both of them. You need to see live action to do that. How much and what we divide up, that will be as we get closer, let's get to Toronto first."

With the uncertainty surrounding possible positive COVID tests and potential injuries after a four-month layoff, teams are permitted to bring an unlimited number of goalies to their hub city. Cassidy expects that all four goalies in camp - Rask, Halak, Daniel Vladar, and Max Lagace - will make the trip to the bubble.

"You may have to risk a spot and we've had that conversation," said Cassidy. "Our first thought was we'd bring four for that reason, to make sure we don't have to get a guy up to speed who hasn't really been practicing. You just never know. It's too important a position to get stuck in."

Wagner Returns; Three Still Missing

After missing the last two practices, Chris Wagner returned for Tuesday's skate. Anton Blidh, absent from Monday's session, was also back on the ice. Wingers David Pastrnak and Ondrej Kase remained absent. Joakim Nordstrom also sat out for the second time since last Thursday.

Cassidy is planning to give much of the roster a maintenance day on Wednesday and said not to look too much into the number of players on the ice for the mid-week session. He expects to be closer to a full group for Thursday's practice.

"Absolutely," Cassidy said when asked if it's a possibility that any of those players return on Wednesday. "Again, we went through some testing stuff. It didn't work out exactly on our schedule, so hopefully [on Wednesday] we're on time with that."

Studnicka Shines

With Pastrnak and Kase missing for most of camp and Wagner also absent for a stretch, the Bruins have been shorthanded on the right side. Cassidy has turned to a number of youngsters to fill the void, including Jack Studnicka, a natural centerman who saw time riding with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand during Tuesday's skate.

Studnicka made a strong rush during the 5-on-5 portion of the session, buzzing down the right side and dropping a feed to Bergeron at the top of the right circle. Bergeron zipped a feed back to the 21-year-old, who then found Zdeno Chara in the slot where the big man finished off the sequence with a wrister by the glove of Halak.

"Now you get into the second week and you wonder about chemistry and who fits best. We have next week to do that as well," said Cassidy. "When you go Bergy, [David] Krejci, [Charlie] Coyle, [Sean] Kuraly, [Par] Lindholm, the biggest strength of our team is our play down the middle. If Jack is gonna have an opportunity to get into the lineup, we have to look at him on the right wing.

"It kind of opens it up for him a little bit if that trend [of missing right wingers] continues. Put him on the right today, I liked his confidence, he made some plays, made a play on Zee's goal. But in general, he seems to be a little more confident.

"Probably has to do with a full season of pro under his belt. Played a few games for us, knows he belongs."

Tuesday's Practice Lineup

FORWARDS

Brad Marchand - Patrice Bergeron - Anders Bjork/Jack Studnicka

Jake DeBrusk - David Krejci - Karson Kuhlman/Anton Blidh

Nick Ritchie - Charlie Coyle - Sean Kuraly/Zach Senyshyn

Trent Frederic/Paul Carey - Par Lindholm - Chris Wagner

DEFENSEMEN

Zdeno Chara - Connor Clifton/Urho Vaakanainen

Torey Krug - Brandon Carlo

Matt Grzelcyk - Jeremy Lauzon

John Moore - Jakub Zboril

GOALIES

Tuukka Rask

Jaroslav Halak

Daniel Vladar

Max Lagace

UNFIT TO PARTICIPATE

Ondrej Kase, Charlie McAvoy, Joakim Nordstrom, and David Pastrnak