Stanley Cup Playoffs 2013: Is Tuukka Rask Now The Best Goalie in Conference Finals Play?
By Josh Hill
Coming into the Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, there was absolutely no doubting that Los Angeles Kings net minder Jonathan Quick was the best there was of the remaining goalies. But while there was no questioning Quick then, his horrifying performances in the first two games against the Chicago Blackhawks not only got him yanked and replaced but it has many questioning his current supremacy as the best netminder standing.
If you want to find the best netminder in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, you must travel all the way across the country from Los Angeles to the fair city of Boston and promptly look up Tuukka Rask. The Finnish sensation is sweeping Bruins nation with is lights out goaltending and it’s one of the main reasons the Bruin have the 1-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins on the ropes so early on in their series.
Rask put together another outstanding performance in Game 2 against the Pens where his flashy play was amplified by a 6-1 victory. But it’s not that the Bruins are blowing out the Penguins that has many looking towards Rask when asked who the best netminder standing is, it’s the fact that Rask seems untouchable both in the way he plays and his mentality.
The Penguins are a fast offense that like to score and like to do it quickly. That sort of happened in Game 2 as the Bruins gave a goal in the second period which made things at the time a two goal difference. But a lesser netminder gets rattled in that situation as here you have guys like Sidney Crosby and Brandon Sutter firing lasers at you and you’re supposed to get in the way. That’s all fine until you give up that first goal which not only tells you but it tells the opposing skaters that they can get shots past you.
But Rask brushed he goal off like it was nothing and proceeded to stop 26 of the 27 shots fired at him in Game 2.
We saw the power of an elite netminder and what it can do to your chances in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Rask has now surpassed Quick as the top netminder at the moment and Quick knows a thing or two about what can happen if you’re breathing fire at skaters this deep into the postseason.
He might be touchable, as we saw that even Jonathan Quick is mortal in the postseason. But as long as the Bruins defencemen are roughing up the Pens skaters and Rask is getting rattled Pens shooters firing crooked beams at him, this series might end up being over rather quickly and Tuukka Rask will have officially entered the upper echelon of the Quick, Lundqvists and Brodeur’s active in the NHL today.
That is, if he hasn’t already gotten there.