Rask, Sporting Finger Splint, Says He’ll Split Time With Halak

Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask was sporting a black splint on the middle and ring fingers of his glove hand (left) when he spoke in an NHL Zoom Conference call for the three Vezina Trophy finalists. Rask took a hard shot the first day of camp and has left practice early Tuesday and then again Thursday this week. Thankfully, for the Bruins, he hasn’t been ruled ‘unfit to play’ as of yet and seemed to be in great spirits on the conference call. Rask also finished practice on Friday. 

Scroll to 12 seconds in below to see Rask’s finger splint:

🎥 Tuukka Rask joins fellow Vezina Trophy finalists Connor Hellebuyck and Andrei Vasilevskiy to discuss their stellar 2019-20 seasons: pic.twitter.com/sp6T11PO7k

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) July 17, 2020

The Bruins have already had a hat trick of ‘unfit to play’ diagnosis with forwards David Pastrnak, Ondrej Kase, and Joakim Nordstrom all going on the dreaded list in the last two days. Pastrnak’s agent actually confirmed to The Athletic Friday afternoon that Pastrnak tested negative for COVID19 between the end of practice Thursday and Friday morning. He is now back in quarantine while the status of Kase – who already broke pre-camp quarantine last weekend with Pastrnak – and Nordstrom is unknown.  

Also of note in the Vezina Zoom call was that Rask believes he and goalie Jaro Halak, whom he teamed up with to form the best goalie tandem in the NHL for the Jennings Trophy, will split time in the round-robin and the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“We’ve had the luxury of me sharing the net with Jaro [Halak] the last couple of years and it’s worked out great for us,” the 2014 Vezina Trophy winner said. “As far as the playoffs are concerned, you never know. You lay off for four months and then you right into playoff hockey, there might be some injuries and some nagging injuries that might happen, your groin or hips. 

I’d be surprised if you see goalies play every minute of every game during these playoffs because the situation is so different. But I’m looking forward to it. You never know but I guess we’ll see what happens. We’ve had the luxury of having two very good goalies the last few seasons, so I think we’re in a good spot.”

Rask, Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebucyk and Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy were all named finalists for the Vezina Trophy, which is given to the league’s best goalie, earlier in the day. If Rask wins the award, he will become only the second active player – with Florida Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky the other – to win more than one Vezina and one of just seven since 1981 to accomplish the feat.