Boston Bruins fans woke up to some very bad news on Saturday morning, as goaltender Tuukka Rask decided to opt-out of the 2020 NHL playoffs hours before the team would take the ice in Game 3 of their first-round match up with the Carolina Hurricanes.
“I want to be with my teammates competing, but at this moment there are things more important than hockey in my life, and that is being with my family, ” Rask said. “I want to thank the Bruins and my teammates for their support and wish them success.”
Rask has a newborn and two girls at home, so it is definitely understandable that he wanted to keep him and his family safe. The timing though is interesting.
Rask’s opt-out comes two days after he made very puzzling comments after the Bruins’ Game 2 loss. He said that the atmosphere during games is “dull” and he wasn’t going to be “stressing over the results”.
So now with the news of him opting out coming hours before Game 3, it is valid to question how committed he really was to playing.
Backup goalie Jaroslav Halak will take over, but the good news is he doesn’t have a lot of pressure on him because he is being pushed up to the starting role just hours before a playoff hockey game in a scenario that nobody expected to happen.
In the 2019-2020 NHL season Halak allowed 2. 39 goals on average and will face a tough test against the Canes.
(Photo: Elsa Garrison/Getty Images)
