Tuukka Rask is hot.
The Bruins’ No. 1 goalie turned back 24 shots, including all 13 in the third period, to backstop his team to a 5-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday afternoon at TD Garden. It was the Bruins’ fourth straight win. Rask has earned three of them after being in net for four straight losses.
“He was terrific,’’ Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “They certainly came with the intent of getting the tying goal and pushed hard. We bent, certainly, but didn’t break. Tuukka made some good stops. We were able to limit any second-chance opportunities, which is important, and odd-man rushes.’’
As tempting as it may be to ride with Rask, the Bruins will give Anton Khudobin the net on Sunday on the road against Chicago for two reasons. Rask works best with rest, which a back-to-back would not afford him. The Bruins also are planning to use Rask beyond the final week of the regular season.
The win propelled the Bruins into third place in the Atlantic Division. More importantly, it would give the Bruins, by night’s end, at worst a 3-point cushion over Tampa Bay. As much as the Bruins would like to avoid the final wild-card slot and a first-round showdown against Washington, their priority is to make it into the top eight.
Their latest win gave them two more points of clearance to achieve that goal. While Sunday’s game at the United Center will be tough, the Bruins conclude the regular season with three straight at TD Garden against Tampa, Ottawa, and Washington — difficult opponents but easier to play on home ice.
“With the schedule the way it is and what we’ve needed to do down the stretch and continue to need to do, it’s nice to have these home games in our back pocket,’’ Cassidy said. “Of late, we’ve played well here. Guys are confident here. That’s a good thing.’’
The Bruins got timely and fortunate scoring. In the first, after blocking a Jakub Kindl shot, Noel Acciari peeled off for a breakaway. Acciari brushed off Kindl’s hook, continued his approach on Reto Berra, and snapped the puck five-hole to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 17:03 of the first.
The Panthers responded with a net-front bounce off Thomas Vanek at 1:38 of the second. But the Bruins answered when Patrice Bergeron slammed home the rebound of a Zdeno Chara ripper at 7:56 of the second. Panthers coach Tom Rowe used his challenge, claiming that Brad Marchand had interfered with Berra, but video review concluded that Marchand’s presence did not affect Berra’s ability to play the shot.
Florida tied the score a second time, this time when Jaromir Jagr whistled a power-play snapper past Rask at 9:53 of the second. But David Krejci scored the deciding goal at 14:30 of the second, thanks to an assist by Berra. The goalie, leaving the crease to play Torey Krug’s stretch pass to David Pastrnak, tried to clear the puck off the left wall. Krejci intercepted the pass and slapped the winner into an empty net.
The Panthers could have tied the game on a third occasion in the final period. The Bruins, sitting back to protect their one-goal lead, gave the Panthers too much space in center ice.
But Rask filled up the net, both by playing shooters square and using his athleticism to keep his crease clear of pucks. He stopped Vincent Trocheck on a two-on-one rush after Jagr cleared out Chara. Rask made back-to-back saves on Alex Petrovic and Keith Yandle. After Yandle’s shot went wide of the net, caromed off the end boards, and landed on Jonathan Huberdeau’s stick, Rask dived to his left to stuff the winger’s tying bid.
The Panthers added one more Grade-A tying bid when Jagr redirected Jason Demers’s point shot. But Rask, who had been anticipating Demers’s shot, was positioned well enough to lean slightly to his right and gobble up Jagr’s tip at 17:00 to keep his team in the lead by one goal.
It was ace stuff.
“It’s never easy,’’ said Rask, who could breathe easier after late goals by Marchand (power play) and Bergeron (empty net). “We needed those points badly, obviously. We stuck with it. They only got three shots in the first period, so we kind of dominated that. Even in the second, we were the better team. But they never let down and never quit. Give them credit. It’s not always easy to play when you have nothing to play for.’’
Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com.
