Five games into the NHL season, the Boston Bruins have a 3-2 record. There is one common component in every victory this season, and that component is Tuukka Rask. This is a man who anchors the Bruins in a way that pushes them to victory. The Bruins need Rask in the net if they want to make a push for the Stanley Cup this season. Without him, they simply don’t have a chance to do anything meaningful this year.

Making up for Last Year

Bruins fans were rightly upset with Rask at the end of last season. In their last game of the regular season, the Bruins needed a victory against the Ottawa Senators to get into the playoffs. At the last minute, Task dropped out of the game due to illness. The Bruins lost the game to Ottawa 6-1 and missed out on the playoffs.

That was the final letdown in a bad year for the normally terrific Rask. Rask has a career .924 save percentage, but he only had a .915 save percentage last season. It was the lowest season save percentage of his career, and caused some fans to wonder if his career might be heading on a downward slide.

However, Rask looks set to prove the doubters wrong this year. He has a .947 save percentage so far this season, and he is only giving up an average of 1.68 goals per game. The problem is that he has already missed two of the first five games due to injury, and the Bruins are simply not a very good team this year without Rask minding the net.

No Reliable Backup

The biggest problem with Rask out of the lineup is that the Bruins do not seem to have anyone adequate to fill in for him. In the two games that Rask has missed, backup goalie Anton Khudobin has filled in for him. Unfortunately, he has filled in very poorly. In his first action of the year, Khudobin let the Toronto Maple Leafs score on three of their first seven shots in route to a 4-1 victory. Khudobin was just as bad filling in for Task in the Bruins’ most recent game against Montreal. He again gave up four goals, and it is really hard to win any games when your goalie gives up four goals.

With Rask playing so well and motivated to make up for last year, the Bruins could really use some good news about his injury. Unfortunately, no one really knows when Rask is going to be back. The team has not even said what the injury to Rask is. It may be a hamstring pull, which could be trouble. Hamstrings are often slow to heal and can easily be reinjured if the player comes back too soon.

With Rask out, there are no good options. Khudobin has been awful, and now he appears to be inured as well. Rookie backup goalie Malcom Subban has been called up from Providence to back up Khudobin, and the rookie may actually get his first NHL start tonight against Minnesota. That is a scary thought for Bruins fans as Subban has given up 4.50 goals a game at Providence. With no reliable backups at goalie, Boston needs Rask to get healthy as soon as possible.