BRIGHTON, Mass. – After getting through a full team practice on Wednesday, it looks like Tuukka Rask will have missed only a grand total of one game with his concussion.
The Bruins top goaltender is expected to start on Thursday night against the Philadelphia Flyers provided he gets through Thursday morning’s skate without any issues related to the head injury.
“There’s a good chance [Rask will play vs. Flyers],” said Cassidy of Rask, who is 5-0-1 with a 1.75 goals against average and a .941 save percentage during the month of January. “We’re going to wait and see how he does in the morning after his first full practice, and that there’s no fatigue or whatnot after missing time. Assuming he’s ready to go and feels (good) about everything, there’s a good chance that he’ll get in.”
Rask has been out since a violent collision during a Jan. 19 loss to the New York Rangers, but missed just Tuesday’s loss to Winnipeg with the bye week and NHL All-Star Weekend coinciding with the injury.
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In fact the biggest inconvenience appears to be that Rask had to push back his bye week vacation to the Caribbean by a single day while dealing with the motion sickness and nausea associated with the concussion. He’s been symptom-free for an extended period of time now and is looking forward to jumping back in between the pipes against the Flyers.
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“I feel very good. I didn’t have too bad of a headache, but there was motion sickness and feeling nauseous. The good thing about it is that we had the break for five days, so you’re lying under the sun and feeling a whole lot of nothing. I think that was probably the best thing for it,” said Rask. “Originally I thought he just jumped to avoid contact, but then [Charlie McAvoy] came across and tried to make a play when I watched it afterward. It’s just one of those things.”
Clearly the Bruins would like to get Rask back in as soon as possible given how well he’s played between the pipes, and how much backup Jaroslav Halak has struggled as of late with losses in five of his last six games played. In addition to Rask likely getting back in between the pipes, Cassidy indicated that Joakim Nordstrom and John Moore would both return to the B’s lineup vs. the Flyers with Matt Grzelcyk and Noel Acciari as the healthy scratches.
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