Rask ‘Laughing’ About Hilarious Third Period Gaffe In Bruins Win

The natural reaction to anybody watching Wednesday night’s Boston Bruins game was “What on Earth was Tuukka Rask thinking in the final minute of a 2-2 game?”

Tuukka Rask: ight imma head out pic.twitter.com/PLxSZMUED9

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 11, 2021

Welp, we all got the hilarious explanation afterward from the Bruins goalie himself as he admitted that he somehow lost track of the score, thought the Bruins were losing 2-1 in the final minute and instinctively headed to the bench for the extra skater. Charlie McAvoy apprised him of the score during his journey from the crease to the bench as the Bruins thankfully circled and waited with possession of the puck, and it all had a happy ending when the B’s won 3-2 in overtime.

“I just had to tell Jaro something,” joked Rask, that he was leaving the crease to chat with his backup Jaroslav Halak. “I honestly thought we were down 2-1. 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 [to the bench] when we had the puck, and then I think Chuckie [Charlie McAvoy] told me, ‘Buddy, it’s 2-2.’”

Credit McAvoy with the big save there as the entire Bruins bench erupted in waving their goaltender back toward his net in a tie hockey game.

The Bruins’ bench reacting to Tuukka Rask skating back: pic.twitter.com/Ri8cszcf6D

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 11, 2021

Rask, though, was he ever panicked?

“I think we had the puck. I wasn’t panicking at all. I was more laughing, actually,” said Rask afterward with a big smile. “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 the [fans] got a good laugh out of it.”

Tuukka Rask giving it the ole “I fudged up” when he got to the Bruins bench pic.twitter.com/MOcGpvlaxU

— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) February 11, 2021

Rask can afford to laugh when he stopped 33 shots overall in the victory and stood on his head with 14 saves in the second period while stoning Rangers sniper Mika Zibanejad on a couple of Grade-A scoring chances and otherwise holding the Blueshirts at bay during a few too many Boston Bruins defensive breakdowns.

The Bruins No. 1 goaltender had a big smile on his face as he again headed to the Boston bench ahead of the overtime session, and everybody got a smile out of is after the game.

But Rask can also be sure that he’s going to get chirped about by his Boston Bruins teammates for a while, chief of all Brad Marchand as he couldn’t help but smirk about the whole thing afterward.

“Yeah, he’s gonna catch some heat for that,” said Marchand, who will undoubtedly be the chief heat supplier. “If anyone’s supposed to not be sleeping in a game, it’s got to be your goalie. But he made a lot of big saves tonight, so he gets a free pass on that one.”

With Rask, 6-1-1 with a .906 save percentage and 2.31 goals against average this season, having started the last three games in a row for the Bruins while getting wins in each of them, it’s expected Rask and Halak will split back-to-back road games against the Rangers and Islanders this weekend.