Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask catches shot with blocker hand in 'save of the year' candidate
Does this beat Marc-Andre Fleury's save from earlier in the week?
When Marc-Andre Fleury robbed the Maple Leafs with an insane glove save Tuesday night, we thought it might end up being the best save of the season. Two days later, we have to question if it was even the best save this week.
That's because Tuukka Rask submitted his own "save of the year" candidate for consideration Thursday night as the Bruins took on the Sabres. With Boston holding onto a two-goal lead and Buffalo on the power play in the third period, Evan Rodrigues had a golden opportunity to cut that lead in half as a rebound opportunity rolled to him with Rask out of position. Rodrigues had plenty of net to shoot at and he let one rip. It felt like it was going to be a sure goal.
But then Rask did this:
We must Rask you a question, Tuukka.
— NHL (@NHL) November 22, 2019
HOW!?!?! pic.twitter.com/ykzmqXQisx
After losing his stick in the chaos, Rask made a desperation lunge back across the crease and managed to grab the shot with his blocker hand. Yes, his blocker hand. It sounds ridiculous because it is.
YES @tuukkarask CAUGHT THAT WITH HIS BLOCKER!! 🤯😱 pic.twitter.com/xpi30MLsaC
— NHL (@NHL) November 22, 2019
That save would end up being a pivotal one, as the Bruins would go on to win by a final score of 3-2. Had Rask failed to make the insane save, overtime likely would have been in the cards.
When asked about the highlight after the game, the Bruins goaltender basically said he couldn't even believe it himself.
Tuukka Rask said his save on Rodrigues was tougher to shake off than a bad goal because he’s not used to making saves like that. Said he didn’t even want to look at the replay.
— Marisa Ingemi (@Marisa_Ingemi) November 22, 2019
All Rodrigues could do was offer a tip of the cap.
"It's arguably the save of the year," the Sabres forward said, via Joe Yerdon. "You just tip your hat but yeah, that was something else."
It seems that this one might be tough to beat moving forward, but we also said that two days ago.
















