It could have been a disaster, but instead it will be remembered as one of the funniest moments of the 2021 Bruins season.
With a minute left in regulation Wednesday night and the Bruins and Rangers tied 2-2, Tuukka Rask left his net and started heading to the Bruins bench.
Normally, there are only two reasons a goalie would leave his net: to bring on an extra attacker during a delayed penalty call, or to bring on an extra attacker late in a game his team is losing.
This was neither of those situations. The Bruins bench realized they very much still needed a goalie and began frantically yelling and pointing for Rask to return to his net, which he ultimately did.
Fortunately for Rask and the Bruins, Boston never lost possession during Rask's adventure, the Rangers had no chance to take advantage of the empty net, and the Bruins went on to win 3-2 in overtime.
After the game, Rask joked that he just had to tell something to fellow goalie Jaroslav Halak, then explained that it was just a mental blunder.
"I honestly thought we were down 2-1," Rask said. "That's it. I thought we were down 2-1. I was waiting for Butchie [coach Bruce Cassidy] to wave me over there. I was like, 'Why the heck is he not?' Minute and a half left, he's not waving me. Then I just decided to come when we had the puck, and then I think Chuckie [Charlie McAvoy] told me, 'Buddy, it's 2-2.'"
Brad Marchand, who was on the ice at the time, said he just assumed the Bruins were about to get a power play, and got confused when he then saw Rask turn around and head back.
"I thought we had a power play," Marchand said. "I started yelling at Millzy [Kevan Miller] to hold it because we had a PP. I didn't see the ref behind us. I just saw Tuukks coming off. I was a little confused when Tuukks came back into the net. But luckily they didn't capitalize on that opportunity. I think Tuukks was just trying to throw everyone off."
Rask said that once he realized his mistake, he couldn't help but laugh.
"I think we had the puck. I wasn't panicking at all. I was more laughing actually," Rask said. "Definitely not something you want to do, but hey, it's an entertainment industry I guess. That's what we're trying to provide, entertainment for the fans. I'm sure people were shocked at first, but hopefully they got a good laugh out of it."
Rest assured, Rask will certainly face some ribbing from his teammates, although Marchand pointed out that they might have to take it a little easy given how good Rask was the rest of the night.
"Yeah, he's gonna catch some heat for that," Marchand said. "If anyone's supposed to not be sleeping in a game, it's supposed to be your goalie. But he made a lot of big saves tonight, so he gets a free pass on that one."
Rask stopped 33 of the 35 shots he faced and made several 10-bell saves, including two on chances from Mika Zibanejad -- one a point-blank backdoor chance and one a shorthanded breakaway.
