Tuukka Rask was part of some great goalie tandems during his time with the Bruins. Early in his career, he and Tim Thomas pushed each other, with Rask winning the starting job down the stretch in 2009-10 before Thomas reclaimed it for the Stanley Cup run the next season. Later in his career, the Bruins invested in proven veteran backups like Anton Khudobin and Jaroslav Halak to help ease Rask’s regular-season workload.
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Rask was never part of a playoff rotation, though. Either he was going to be the starter for the playoffs or Thomas was. There was no going back and forth, even if the No. 1 had an off game or two. Khudobin and Halak were always understood to be the backups; they were not threats to Rask’s postseason playing time (minus the 2020 bubble playoffs when Rask left Toronto and left the job to Halak).
The Bruins have not rotated goalies in the playoffs since Rask’s retirement, either. Linus Ullmark entered the postseason as the starter both last season and in 2022. In both cases, though, the team made a switch to Jeremy Swayman before the end of the first round.
Rotating Ullmark and Swayman has worked in the regular season, though, producing historic greatness last year and strong results again this season. Coach Jim Montgomery made it clear earlier this season that he would be more open to continuing the rotation into the playoffs this time around – assuming both are still here after Friday’s trade deadline.
Could it actually work? Meeting with a small group of reporters at the grand opening of the Bruins’ new Heritage Hall at TD Garden, Rask said he is as curious as everyone else to see it.
“Very curious,” Rask said. “I mean, I can't see why it couldn't work. It's just easier said than done, because going into the playoffs, you want to ride the hot hand, right? But then you've had the rotation working for you for a year or two. So, it's a tough question. You'd like to have both goalies hot. You can't have both goalies cold. Hey, I'm not making those decisions. Talk to Goalie Bob [Bruins goalie coach Bob Essensa].”
Heritage Hall, which opens to the public on Wednesday and features a dream collection of artifacts and memorabilia from throughout the Bruins’ 100-year history, was a fitting place for a reminder that a playoff goalie rotation has worked before… a long time ago.
The last time a team won the Stanley Cup with anything close to a strict rotation was the 1971-72 Bruins. Gerry Cheevers started eight playoff games that spring, Eddie Johnston seven. It wasn’t a strict every-other-game rotation, but neither one of them started more than two games in a row during that run.
Of course, even if the Bruins started the playoffs with a rotation, they could – as Rask alluded to – at any point decide to ride the hot hand if one is playing well and the other is struggling.
Aside from getting the goalie situation right, Rask pointed out that the Bruins will have to find a way to play their best hockey once the playoffs start, something they didn’t do last year. Rask said he is not particularly concerned about the Bruins’ post-All-Star skid since the team remains in safe standing when it comes to the playoff race.
“Well, it looks like they're gonna make the playoffs. So, step one, right? As we saw last year, it doesn't really matter how you get into the postseason; what matters is how you play there,” Rask said. “Hopefully they can find their groove going into the playoffs and make a run, because every year, this city, I know from personal experience everybody expects you to win and make a run at it. So, hopefully they'll answer the bell and bring some joy to the fans.”