Rask has fractured finger, says he'll be ready for Bruins in Qualifiers

Tuukka Rask revealed that he fractured his finger in the past few weeks but said he would be ready to play once the Stanley Cup Qualifiers begin.

"I was doing box jumps," the Boston Bruins goalie said Tuesday. "I slammed my finger at the edge of the box, bent the ligament. It kind of fractured the finger. It's a small fracture. It's nothing major. But like you can probably imagine, not going to feel great to catch pucks with that."

Rask was wearing a black splint on the ring finger of his left hand when he appeared on a Zoom call Friday. He said he is optimistic that within a week he'll have his normal glove on, and that he has been "stung" a couple of times in training camp, once missing part of a session and once ending his practice early.

"It's getting better, so I'm not worried about it," Rask said. "It'll be all set once we start playing."

Boston's first game in the Qualifiers is against the Philadelphia Flyers on Aug. 2.

Rask, who was 28-8-6 with a 2.12 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage in 41 games (all starts) this season, is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, given annually to the best goalie in the NHL. He combined with backup Jaroslav Halak to win the William M. Jennings Trophy as the goalies who allowed the fewest goals (167). Halak was 18-8-6 with a 2.39 GAA and a .919 save percentage in 31 games (29 starts).

Coach Bruce Cassidy said Tuesday that Halak will play during the round-robin portion of the Qualifiers as the Bruins prepare for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Halak has not played a postseason game since 2015 with the New York Islanders. He is 13-15 in with a 2.39 GAA and a .924 save percentage in 30 NHL playoff games. Rask is 50-39 with a 2.19 GAA and .927 save percentage in 89 playoff games.

"We have to get him ready as well as Tuukka," Cassidy said of Halak. "I don't know how it will play out exactly, but he'll get in there. We need him ready for playoffs as well. Both of them. I think Tuukka understands that part of it."

Cassidy said how much the goalies will play will be determined when the Bruins get to Toronto, the Eastern Conference hub city. They will travel there July 26 and play an exhibition game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on July 30.

The Bruins had the best record in the NHL (44-14-12, .714 points percentage) when the season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. They will play in the round-robin at Scotiabank Arena against the Tampa Bay Lightning (43-21-6, .657), Washington Capitals (41-20-8 .652) and Flyers (41-21-7, .645) to determine seeding for the playoffs.

"It's just a totally different scenario going into the playoffs because you have three or four months of doing nothing," Rask said, "so you just don't know how your body's going to react when you start ramping up for the playoffs. I think it's a luxury that we have two good goalies that, if necessary, we can share the net."