Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask will miss at least the next two games because of an upper-body injury, coach Bruce Cassidy announced Friday.
Rask, 34, will sit out Boston’s home games against the visiting Buffalo Sabres (Saturday) and New Jersey Devils (Sunday).
The former Vezina Trophy recipient tweaked his back in a game against the Devils on March 7. He missed the team’s next six games before playing just the first period in the Bruins’ 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Islanders on Thursday.
“Tuukka was in this morning, he will be getting treatment. He will not play this weekend and then we’ll go from there,” Cassidy said Friday. “Again, til he’s back on the ice, hopefully there’s (nothing) major there, but obviously something’s going on where he had to leave the game again with a similar injury as the last time.
“We’ll have to make sure we (get it) looked at and make the right call the next time and make sure he’s — I guess, not make the right call — we assumed he was ready to play. That’s why he was in. He said he was, medical staff, but obviously we have to keep a closer eye on it if it’s something that’s going to flare up.”
Rask, who stopped all six shots he faced on Thursday, sports an 8-4-2 record with a 2.40 goals-against average and .907 save percentage in 15 games (all starts) this season. He is playing in the final season of an eight-year, $56 million contract.
Rask owns a 299-162-66 record with 50 shutouts, a 2.27 GAA and .921 save percentage in 551 career games (531 starts) with the Bruins. He has been with the Bruins’ organization since June 2006 and made his NHL debut in 2007. He was a first-round draft pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2005.
–Field Level Media