The Bruins, who have won three straight and earned points in eight straight games, start a five-game road trip on Friday night at Anaheim. B’s goalie Tuukka Rask takes a 10-0-2 streak into the trip.
Have a good weekend, guys.
No, really. The Bruins need to do that.
The B’s play the first of five straight road games against Western Conference teams on Friday night at Anaheim (10:05, NESN, WBZ-FM/98.5), and the best path to making the trip a success is to take advantage of this weekend’s back-to-back dates against the Ducks and Kings (10:35 p.m. Saturday, NESN, WBZ-FM/98.5). Next week’s schedule -- Sharks on Monday, Golden Knights on Wednesday, Blues next Saturday -- is much more ominous.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy announced on Thursday that Jaroslav Halak will be in goal on Friday against the Ducks, so Halak’s in charge of extending the Bruins’ three-game winning streak and eight-game points streak (5-0-3). One night later, Tuukka Rask puts a personal points streak on the line.
Perhaps it’s because it has overlapped the NHL’s December holiday break and last month’s All-Star break and bye week, but Rask’s streak has largely escaped notice. The fact remains, though, that since he and the B’s lost on Dec. 23 at Carolina, 5-3, Rask has earned points in 12 straight decisions (10-0-2).
Rask has a goals-against average of 1.92 and saves percentage of .934 over the streak, which began with a 3-2, overtime decision on Dec. 29 at Buffalo, and includes high-profile wins over the Blackhawks in the New Year’s Day Winter Classic at Notre Dame Stadium (4-2), at Toronto (3-2, Jan. 12), and a 1-0 shutout on Feb. 3 at Washington, in which he became the franchise’s all-time wins leader and ended the Bruins’ 14-game losing streak (0-11-3) against the Capitals. He had held eight of 10 opponents to two goals or fewer before surrendering four and three to the Kings and Blackhawks, respectively, in his last two decisions.
Rask (18-8-4, 2.38, .920), whose slow start to the season included a two-game personal leave of absence in early November, doesn’t think he’s done anything special lately.
“I think I haven’t, like, stolen games,” he said after Tuesday’s 23-save, 6-3 win over the Avalanche at TD Garden. “It’s not like I’ve been unbelievable.
“I’ve felt good, tried to be there when the team needs me, but I haven’t felt anything different during these games. I just think we’ve played great hockey as a team.”
The Bruins are a perfect 4-0-0 against the teams they’ll meet out West (they haven’t faced the Sharks yet), where the Ducks and Kings occupy the last two spots in the conference. Halak beat the Ducks, who fired coach Randy Carlyle earlier this week, on Dec. 20 at the Garden, 2-1; Rask beat the Kings in overtime, 5-4, last Saturday.
The Sharks, Knights and Blues are in much better shape. San Jose, which visits the Garden on Feb. 26, had won six in a row and was 18-4-4 at home entering Thursday night’s game against the Capitals, the Knights (16-8-3 at home) have recovered from a slow start to move securely into third place in the Pacific Division, and the Blues took a seven-game winning streak into Thursday’s game at Arizona.
The Bruins start the trip with an 11-10-5 road record, but they’re 4-1-1 in their last six away games. The B’s are also 14-4-4 against Western Conference opponents.