Boston Bruins’ Tuukka Rask Opts Out of NHL Playoffs

The Boston Bruins were just hours away from their Game 3 matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes when the team announced some intriguing news. Goalie Tuukka Rask would not play in Game 3 and was opting out of the NHL playoffs. Rask was heading home.

Rask, who routinely is among the NHL leaders in save percentage and goals against average, tweeted that he needed to be with his family at this time. There were reports of some sort of family emergency, but it appears that Rask’s family is fine now but the Bruins goalie will not return to the NHL bubble.

His Head Wasn’t In It

Whatever happened, it’s clear that Rask was never really into playing in the NHL bubble. In the seeding games among the top four seeds in the Eastern Conference, Rask played the first two games against Tampa Bay and Washington and lost both games.

In the first two games of the series with Carolina, Rask gave up three goals in each game leaving his overall bubble record at 1-3 with a 2.57 goals against and a .904 save percentage. Both of those numbers are well below what Rask is capable of.

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Halak Takes Over in Net for the Bruins

With Rask now out, Boston will turn the goaltending duties over to Jaroslav Halak. Bruins fans shouldn’t worry as the 35-year-old Halak has plenty of Stanley Cup playoff experience. In his career, Halak has a 2.45 goals against average and a .922 save percentage in postseason hockey. He was also 18-6-6 during the regular season this year.

Bruins’ 2020 NHL Playoff Odds Affected

Surprisingly, Boston’s odds to win the Stanley Cup and Eastern Conference have not changed all that much now that Rask is out of the lineup. Losing a Vezina Trophy (best goaltender) candidate would seemingly drop a team much farther out of the playoff race.

Oddsmakers feel otherwise about the Bruins’ chances in the Stanley Cup race. After Rask’s announcement prior to Game 3 of their series with Carolina, the Bruins got to work and recorded a 3-1 victory over the Hurricanes. Boston now leads the series 2-1.

The latest odds to win the Stanley Cup show Boston among the leaders. Philadelphia and Colorado are the favorites at +600, but the two teams positioning has more to do with their performances in the seeding games than it does with Boston losing its top goalie.

Vegas (+600) and Tampa Bay (+700) are also among the leading favorites to capture this year’s Stanley Cup. Boston is listed at +800. The Bruins are also listed at +375 to win the Eastern Conference just behind Philadelphia (+275) and Tampa Bay (+350).

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Boston, which played Carolina in last year’s Eastern Conference finals, is still a -150 favorite to win its series with Carolina (+130). The Bruins swept the Hurricanes in last year’s conference finals. Rask won all four games giving up just five goals.

The Bruins went on to lose in the Stanley Cup finals to St. Louis in seven games. Game 4 of the Eastern Conference first round resumes on Monday (Get our NHL picks for tonight), with Game 5 on Wednesday, August 19.