Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask has started each of his two previous NHL seasons with identical three-game losing streaks.
The 2012-13 campaign will be different from those seasons in a number of ways. Naturally, though, it will be on Rask to bring about the most critical change, namely a refined overall game and, at age 25 going on 26, an affirmation of his growing maturity.
The Bruins no longer have the services of Tim Thomas, the starter who had one win for each of Rask’s three losses in October 2011 and set the tone for a hardware-laden campaign with seven straight wins to start 2010-11.
With this season being a condensed 48-game schedule, there will be far less room for error and time to recover lost ground. Compounding that with the loss of Thomas and Rask’s elevation means there will often be a shorter turnaround between his starts than before.
Rask has a history of streakiness on both sides of the spectrum. Besides his three straight regulation losses to start the season, his 2011-12 ended with a string of four straight regulation losses.
On the other hand, his log of 23 games played last year also ...
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Article written by Al Daniel
Boston Bruins: Why a Winning Start to the Season Is Crucial For Tuukka Rask
January 12th, 2013 by Al Daniel Leave a reply »
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