RASKY BUSINESS THE SKILLS BEHIND A VEZINA WINNER Tuukka Rask ensured his place in goaltending history by winning the Vezina Trophy in 2013-14, and is carving out a career that could arguably land him in conversations among the all-time greats. Rask has posted a .928 save percentage through parts of seven NHL seasons with the Boston Bruins. That is the best career number of any goalie to play more than 100 games, six points higher than the .922 that made Dominik Hasek a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and eight better than New York Rangers star Henrik Lundqvist, who is heralded as the most consistent, if not also the best, of his generation. So is Rask better than Hasek and Lundqvist? PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCOTT SLINGSBY STORY BY KEVIN WOODLEY INGOALMAG.COM / 15 4 INGOALMAGAZINE DECEMBER 2012 14 / INGOAL MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2014 INGOALMAG.COM / 15 PATIENCE AND REACTING “...quick hands, quick feet and FROM SKATES quick movement side to side Looking through the more than three seasons of photographs used for this story, it was common “ He loads on shots and will always...be the keys to see Rask making saves in what some might commonly label a half-butterfly, with one knee and reacts to pucks. It’s not to being a good goalie.” pad down along the ice and the other off the ice, sometimes even with his toe and the face of the pad default down and then turned straight up to face the sky. out. He’s reacting and Certainly the sample size remains relatively 1 then hitting the ice... small, with 196 games compared to 735 for Hasek and 574 already for Lundqvist. Rask he is so fast and so has also only been the unquestioned starter in patient—and he hasn’t Boston for two seasons since the departure of Vezina, Conn Smythe and Stanley Cup-win- defaulted to dropping ning predecessor Tim Thomas. There are also because he doesn’t questions about shot quality, and some that have to.” wonder how insulated Rask has been behind a stingy Bruins team. We’ll leave those for oth- ers to argue as the games played goes up and the safety net that is Zdeno Chara 2 gets older. But whatever time proves about Rask’s place in NHL history, you won’t find many arguments about his skill level. Simply put, the Finnish-born goalie has a lot of talent. Most are examples of Rask’s incredible patience and reading shots before reacting to them. This allows him to react from the skates, rather than InGoal Magazine sat down with Eli Wilson, who worked with Bruins goaltend- from the knees. In other words, rather than a default ing coach Bob Essensa on Rask’s transition to the NHL at summer camps almost drop down to the ice in a standard butterfly before reacting out to pucks on the perimeter with his a decade ago, to break down what makes Rask great. Some of his strengths were hands (reacting from the knees), Rask takes straight obvious right away. lines to those shots – high or low – from his skates. “He loads on shots and reacts to pucks,” Wilson “His hands, his feet, his flexibility, his ability to spread out ownd low, and his abil- said. “It’s not default down and then out. He’s not “Look at that, it’s an awesome stance,” Wilson said. ity to recover,” Wilson said. “He was good at making saves while moving. If you dropping, hitting the ice and reacting on his way “His balance there is so perfect. Ennis has it on his catch a goalie off balance or leaning one way you can usually beat him the other down. He’s reacting and then hitting the ice – and backhand in the slot, that close to Tuukka and he it’s not always with both knees. So a lot of times we hasn’t bitten on anything yet. If he pulls it forehand way but Tuukka always had the ability to make a save based on athleticism and it see his knees off the ice because he is fast and so and shoots, he’s just going to snap his knees didn’t really matter whether he was set for that particular play.” patient – as patient as you can be as a goalie– and because he’s wide and low already, but yet he’s he hasn’t defaulted to dropping because he doesn’t still active from that stance and can push in either have to.” direction still because he has both edges. I like his Those skills manifest themselves in different ways in different save situations, but forward press with the puck that close, his head most are rooted in Rask’s foot and hand speed. positioning with the hands out front – so engaged without committing to anything.” “Two things that will never change: There will always be room orf goalies with quick hands and quick feet,” Wilson said. “The rest changes and advances but quick hands, quick feet and quick movement side to side will always, nomatter what else changes with the position, will always be the keys to being good a goalie.” Rask has all three, even if he uses them differently from others. 16 / INGOAL MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2014 INGOALMAG.COM / 17 ACTIVE HANDS SKATING AND FLOW first turn, close and load that lead skate back before making that second push back in the other direction. Like a lot of Finnish goalies, Rask plays with active Rask plays with a lot of backwards flow in his By not adding that extra movement, however, he can hands, catching and steering pucks with his glove game, starting out well above the crease against change directions faster. and blocker more than many of his North American rush chances and skating backwards as the play peers. And like many of his fellow Finns, that means approaches. That extra movement is not some- “He’s a skater and he has to have some flow and Rask isn’t afraid to catch pucks across his body, “Every save he makes thing every goalie coach wants to see because it movement to his game – because he floats in the or down low in front of his pads, rather than using can leave the goaltender more reliant on rhythm crease,” Wilson said. “Look how wide his stance is. A lot his blocker or pads. As we’ve heard from Nashville with a purpose, either and timing, two elements that can come and go of times you see him using shuffles in part because he Predators players in regards to Pekka Rinne doing with feel, but Rask makes it work with quick feet uses such a wide stance that can’t load a T-push.” the same thing with his glove, it saves rebounds and keep it or putting it and great edge control. scrambles in the defensive zone by giving the goalie where he wants it...the complete control of the play. 6 only way you can do that “If you can catch it, catch it,” Wilson said. “Every save he makes is with a purpose, either keeping it is by being active with or putting it where he wants it, and the only way you can do that is by being active with your saves.” your saves.” 3 8 7 Rask plays a more aggressive style than many, both with his outside-in approach off the rush and at times against end-zone chances, often staking out space atop his crease and relying on explosive speed to cover off the extra recovery distance back to his posts. “His flexibility allows him to be so explosive laterally 4 from knees,” said Wilson. “He is explosive and at the same time like a rubber band – he can go from an off- balance position and explode right into an extended Of course great hands start with great vision, and it save. He can be off balance and still get edge con- was amazing to see Rask’s tracking so consistently trol to push across and explode into a save, or move through the three-plus seasons of photos. Unless from off balance to regaining skate position to push he was looking for other threats in the zone – what across and load and explode. He’s not worried about Wilson calls “soft focus” – Rask was locked on the Like a lot of Finnish goalies, Rask will also use more being perfect, as long as he gets that edge to push.” puck, even as it was headed into the corner after shuffles to move laterally rather than the T-push making a tough blocker stop. that is taught and used more prominently in North Rask is also more comfortable than most making America. He will even throw in the odd hop-step, a saves while moving. “That hand-eye coordination starts with visual quick double shuffle with a little hop in between, to attachment and seeing the puck,” Wilson said. “He’s cover off big lateral moves in a hurry. And he also “He’s a side goalie – he purposely makes saves on always on edge and he never expects the puck flows back to his post using a big reverse C-cut on one side of his body or the other more so than a lot to just hit him, he is always making a save. It’s a his outside skate. Both allow Rask to maintain a of other guys – because he is a moving and a lot of mentality: active hands, active feet, hands are lateral push edge on both skates as he moves, and his saves are made while he is moving.” loose, hands are ready, but none of that will matter if while there are times he can get caught not being you aren’t tracking and seeing the puck.” 5 square to the puck because of those reverse C-cuts, it’s easy to find numerous examples of highlight reel stops after that edge control allowed him to quickly reverse direction on a bang-bang passing play from east-to-west.