Tuukka Rask opens up on his return to the crease Thursday night
Tuukka Rask returned to the crease on Thursday night for the time since June 9th 2021. Rask had off-season hip surgery to fix a torn labrum and became an unrestricted free agent on July 28th.
He had been working towards a return to NHL action and was rehabbing and skating the Boston Bruins training facility. Last week, Rask signed a PTO with Boston's AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins. He didn't end up playing with them due to Providence having their games postponed for COVID reasons. Rask was then released from his PTO on Tuesday and subsequently signed a prorated one-year deal with the Bruins worth $1 million.
Boston took on the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night, with Rask making his season debut. The Bruins came away with a 3-2 win courtesy of a David Pastrnak hat trick, while Rask made 25 saves.
Following the game, Rask spoke with reporters and told them that "it felt like I was home."
He also talked about some of the kick saves he made tonight and his mobility after having surgery roughly six months ago.
"Some stuff like that last year was totally out of the question," he said.
In his post-game media availability, David Pastrnak said to reporters that he was happy to see Rask between the pipes.
"I was so happy to have him back, you have no idea," Pastrnak said. "I was ready to leave it all out there for him. I told him, 'I'm going to get a hat trick' before the game, and he didn't believe me."
The Bruins will be back in action on Saturday afternoon at 1pm ET when they host the Nashville Predators.
Rask: 'It felt like I was home' in first game back with Bruins https://t.co/dRJwCB1mAo pic.twitter.com/bLOX6gZKKX— theScore NHL (@theScoreNHL) January 14, 2022
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Peyton Krebs | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alex Tuch | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 19 | 16 | 3 | - | 32 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||