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Tuukka Rask's latest milestone worth appreciating

Back on Feb. 28, Tuukka Rask recorded his 299th career regular-season win. He wound up stuck on that number much longer than he would have liked.

Rask lost his next two games despite giving up just one goal in each, got hurt, missed two and a half weeks, returned for one period, re-aggravated the upper-body injury, and then missed three more weeks.


He finally returned Thursday night and he finally got win No. 300 as the Bruins finally beat the Islanders, a team they were 0-3-2 against this season going into Thursday. Rask stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced in the 4-1 victory.

Rask, who turned 34 between wins 299 and 300, becomes the 37th goalie in NHL history to reach the milestone and the seventh active goalie to do so, joining Marc-Andre Fleury, Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Miller, Pekka Rinne, Carey Price and Jonathan Quick.

He's the 15th goalie to win 300 games with one team and the first Bruin to do so. He's gotten to 300 wins faster than all but four goalies in the club, doing so in 552 games. Only Jacques Plante, Andy Moog, Fleury and Martin Brodeur have gotten there in fewer games.

Wins are, of course, ultimately a team stat, and Rask gave credit to the good teams in front of him first and foremost when asked about the milestone.

"I think I've been fortunate enough to play for a really good team throughout my career, so that helps a lot," Rask said. "We've had some great defenses throughout the years, and I'm just happy to be a part of that. Super grateful that I've been able to play so many years. It's a great milestone. It's one of those that once you're done playing hockey, and years after that when you think about your career and what you accomplished, it's probably going to be a nice memory."

Rask, however, has been a big part of those really good teams. He has been the team's undisputed No. 1 goalie for nearly a decade now, and has consistently been one of the best goalies in the league throughout that time. His .921 career save percentage is the fourth-best mark since the stat started being tracked in 1955 -- trailing only Dominik Hasek, Johnny Bower and Ken Dryden -- and the best among all active goalies.

Rask said it's been "an honor" to do it all with the Bruins.

"Like we all know, this is a great organization and a great hockey town and sports town," Rask said. "I didn't know that when I was coming in here 18, 19 years old, but you very quickly learn how passionate our fans are. So it's been an honor to be here for all my career. Like I said earlier, the big thing has been playing for good teams and great defense, so that helps me and other goalies out a lot. So it's an honor, and it still keeps going."

Where it goes in the immediate future is for Rask to recover from and build off his first full game in nearly six weeks. Rask acknowledged he'll probably feel some general soreness Friday just because it has been so long, but he added that he felt good as far as the injury was concerned. Jeremy Swayman will start Friday night, which had already been the plan, so Rask could be back in Sunday afternoon.

Where it goes longer-term this spring will likely be to the same tired arguments about whether Rask can win a Stanley Cup as a starter. During and after that, there will be discussion and debate about whether Rask, a pending free agent, will or should be back for another season. All of that can wait, though.

At least for a day or two, let's just appreciate Rask's return and his latest milestone.