The goalie left the Bruins game against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday after he was elbowed in the head by Blue Jackets forward Emil Bemstrom, who was skating by the crease and was cross-checked into Rask by Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo.
"I don't want to get into the timeline, but he was here this morning. I talked to him. He's doing better than he was in Columbus on Tuesday," coach Bruce Cassidy said. "I did not see him yesterday, but he was here this morning and feeling better. But still off."
Rask was replaced by Jaroslav Halak, who made 24 saves in Boston's 3-0 loss Tuesday. Halak will start Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins at TD Garden (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, NESN, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV). He will be backed up by
Dan Vladar
, who was recalled from Providence of the American Hockey League on Thursday.
"Right now, we're going to go day-to-day," Cassidy said of his goalie rotation. "But we have a lot of faith in Jaro. Right now, his game is not where it was at the beginning of the year, but we like what Jaro brings and maybe this opportunity gives him a little juice."
In 28 games this season, Rask is 17-4-6 with a 2.27 goals-against average and .925 save percentage. He had been named to the Atlantic Division team for the 2020 Honda NHL All-Star Game, but withdrew on Monday.
NHL.com staff writer Amalie Benjamin contributed to this report
