Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli announced last night that Tuukka Rask suffered “a lower abdomen strain/groin strain” and will be sidelined 4-6 weeks, which means the backup goalie will be unavailable until the playoffs.
Rask suffered the injury Saturday when, in the second period of the B’s loss to the New York Islanders at the Garden, he tried to adjust to a tipped shot while halfway down in his butterfly stance. He immediately crumpled in pain, whipping off his glove and pointing to his left side, before being helped off the ice by teammates.
The injury scuttled the B’s plan of being able to lean on Rask a little more in the busy final month of the season to give starter Tim Thomas [stats] an occasional breather. Starting tonight in Toronto, the B’s have 18 games in 33 days.
With Rask out, the Bruins [team stats] signed free agent Marty Turco. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The 10-year NHL veteran, who spent nine years with the Dallas Stars and last season with the Chicago Blackhawks, must clear waivers before he can join the B’s tomorrow.
This season, Turco’s only action came in the Austrian league, where he appeared in four regular-season games and six postseason games for FC Red Bull Salzburg. Because the B’s made the deal after the trade deadline, Turco is ineligible for postseason play.
Michael Hutchinson was called up from Providence of the AHL to back up Thomas before Sunday’s loss to the Rangers in New York, though it would have been Anton Khudobin had he not been on the shelf with an injured wrist. Khudobin could start skating again this weekend.
Starting point
When the Bruins visit the Maple Leafs tonight in Toronto, they’ll certainly want a better start than the one they had at Madison Square Garde. They kept handing the puck to the Rangers in dangerous places on the ice, with defenseman Zdeno Chara’s giveaway leading to New York’s first goal.
But if the B’s can replicate their effort from the rest of the way against the Rangers, they should be OK. At one particularly one-sided portion of the second period, the MSG crowd gave a mock cheer to the home team when the Rangers managed to trickle a shot on Thomas.
Yet it was hard for the B’s not to have something of an empty feeling coming off a weekend in which they could have stashed away four points in the cupboard, but they wound up coming up empty in losses to the Islanders and Rangers.
“We’re not happy at all,” Patrice Bergeron told reporters at the team hotel in Toronto. “That back-to-back was important. They were huge points, especially against the Rangers. It was a chance to match up against them and feel good about our game, but we didn’t get the result we wanted. So now we have to make sure we establish that (effort) and making sure we get the points.”
But there were certainly positives to take.
Said Brad Marchand: “You saw in the last game we fell down by a couple of goals and we battled back, and as long as we continue to find a way to do that, we have to be happy about our game.”
The Bruins, who last won consecutive games Jan.10-12, will be looking to avoid their first three-game losing streak since October.
“We expect a lot of ourselves and we know what kind of hockey we can play,” Marchand said. “It’s always frustrating when you’re not playing up to par — you let your team down and your city down and all of your fans. We definitely want to put our best game forward every night.” .?.?.
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