Boston's Tukka Rask denies the Wild's Marek Zidlicky in the shootout (AP Photo)
Somewhere Jarri Kurri must be smiling.
The former NHL great, now in charge of cobbling together a medal contender for his native Finland at the Winter Olympics next February could have stopped by the Xcel Energy Center and seen two of his nation’s best net minders duel to as close to a standstill as current NHL rules will allow on Wednesday night. Boston’s Tukka Rask and Minnesota’s Nicklas Backstrom stole the show in a 2-1 shootout victory for the Bruins.
Rask, making his 5th straight start in place of the injured Tim Thomas, made 28 saves, including several spectacular stops in overtime with Minnesota on a power play, and Backstrom stopped 15 of 16 Boston offerings.
It was a gutsy effort from Minnesota. Already without several top players, Todd Richards was forced to scratch another Finn, forward Antti Miettinen, just before the first puck drop due to an illness. Since lineups were already announced, the Wild were forced to play the entire game with just 17 skaters.
The Bruins opened the scoring at the 6:50 mark of the first period on a deflection from Byron Bitz off of a blue line shot from Derek Morris.
Andrew Ebbett, playing in his first game since being claimed off of waivers from the Blackhawks on Saturday, tipped a Kyle Brodziak shot through the legs of Rask on the power play at the 10:23 mark of the second period to tie the score. The Wild are Ebbett’s third team this NHL season, having started the season with the Anaheim Ducks. He had 32 points in 48 games last season for Anaheim. Ironically, he had already played against the Wild twice this year, once with each of his former teams.
Guillaume LaTendresse, acquired Monday from the Canadiens in exchange for former first round pick Benoit Pouliot, was a healthy scratch.
After Rask’s overtime heroics, he stopped three of four Wild shootout attempts. Only Mikko Koivu was able to score. Backstrom allowed goals from Patrice Bergeron and an eventual winner to David Krejci. Former Gopher Blake Wheeler was one of the two Boston shooters denied.
Backstrom is trying to stake his claim as Finland’s top choice net minder for the games slated for Vancouver in February. His strongest opposition appears to be from Calgary’s star goalie Miikka Kiprusoff and Nashville’s rising backstop Pekka Rinne, but Rask may slowly be playing his way into the conversation as well. The 22 year-old is now 7-2-1 in 10 starts this year with a goals against average of 2.10. Other Finnish goalies currently playing in the NHL include Antero Niittymaki of Tampa Bay and Vesa Toskala of Toronto.
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