Game 1: Bruins win 5-1, Rask is really good.
Game 2: Bruins win 7-3, Rask is not quite really good, but solid enough.
Game 3: Bruins lose 4-2, Rask isn't very good.
Game 4: Bruins win 3-1, Rask is outstanding.
Game 5: Bruins lose 4-3, Rask isn't very good at all, but he's great in the third period as the Bs try to mount a comeback. In fact, for almost the last half of the game he gives up zip.
Game 6: Bruins lose 3-1, Rask is for the most part pretty solid, and the last goal is an empty-netter.
Game 7: Bruins win 7-4. Let's look more closely at the four goals Rask allowed.
First goal: Tip off a hard slap shot. 95 miles an hour, changing direction 18 inches in front of him. It's like demanding that a catcher catch a foul tip off a major league fastball. When it changes direction at that speed that close to you, it's a matter of luck whether you can stop it or not, it seems to me.
Second goal: From about 12 feet out, at a tough angle. This one I think Rask should have stopped. There was no screen, no nothing.
Third goal: Another shot that got deflected once, maybe even twice. Again, when a puck changes directions like that, it's awfully hard to stop.
Fourth goal: Shorthanded breakaway where the Leaf scorer made an incredible move.
So three of the four goals were not goals that I think Rask should have stopped. COULD he have stopped them? Sure I guess. But two redirections and a one-on-one breakaway where the guy made a stellar move. You guys who know more about hockey can tell me more about whether he did a bad job leaving rebounds in front of the net, etc. But I think three of the four goals were not plays you really should expect the goalie to make, and he did pitch a shutout in the third period, giving Boston a chance to come back.
He makes me nervous as hell. When he's on, he's impregnable. But when he's not...yikes. For all the accolades being thrown Andersen's way during this series, he got pulled himself, and the Leafs gave up 5, 7, and 7 goals in three of the games.