OTTAWA — Friday did not start well for Tuukka Rask.

During the morning skate prior to Game 5, Patrice Bergeron fired a puck on net. He did not aim well.

The puck pegged Rask squarely between the legs. The goalie shouted in pain and dropped to his knees, bringing a brief pause to line rushes. For a goalie, even the sturdiest below-the-belt armaments do not make frozen rubber feel good when it thuds into a sensitive area.

The momentary agony that wracked Rask, however, would not have compared to the enduring pain of ending a playoff run after five games. That is how 2016-17 would have ended had Rask not submitted one of the finest puck-stopping performances of his career.

Rask had help, most of it from an unlikely source. Rookie roughneck Sean Kuraly potted two goals, including the deciding strike in double overtime, to propel the Bruins to a 3-2 win and keep their season alive. A battered blue line sucked up the abuse of extra time, led by perpetual strongman Zdeno Chara, whose work day included a team-leading 36:46 of play and a game-high nine body slams. With pivot partner David Krejci felled by a knee-to-knee clang from Chris Wideman, Bergeron played 29:38 while landing five of his 10 shot attempts on Craig Anderson.

But the Bruins would be booking tee times if not for the skinny Finn. Rask foiled the Senators 41 times, turning back 13 pucks in overtime and plumping his résumé with six more saves in double OT. 

Rask was Peak Tuuk, highlighting his artistry with a right-pad kickout on Viktor Stalberg at 6:49 of overtime. Mortals would have shredded their groins had they attempted such on-ice gymnastics. But such a save was part of just another day at the office for the limber and athletic Rask. The ace left Stalberg and the rest of the Senators scratching their heads at how he kept his net clean of pucks for 50-plus minutes of play from the second period on.

The only pucks that eluded Rask were ones he had no business stopping. At 11:19 of the first, after some quick-strike movement from Derick Brassard and Mike Hoffman, Mark Stone had the puck on his stick while in flight behind Kevan Miller and Joe Morrow. Stone stretched out his stick and tucked a backhander past Rask for the opening goal. 

Half a minute into the second period, after Chara and Charlie McAvoy got caught up the ice, Jean-Gabriel Pageau approached on a breakaway and snapped a five-hole pea past Rask.

That was all the Senators got. Even if they had plenty of chances to tack on more.

The Bruins repeatedly pulled pins from grenades and tucked them into their own pants. At 14:52 of the third period, Dominic Moore tried to bank the puck off the glass and out of the defensive zone. Moore’s chip landed in the Canadian Tire Centre seats. 

Ottawa failed on its late-game power play. It didn’t take long for the Senators to take another swing. 

With 2:28 remaining in regulation, the Bruins were nabbed for too many men on the ice. A brain cramp struck the Bruin with the most powerful processor. Bergeron, of all players, was the culprit, rolling over the boards before Kuraly went off for a change. 

Just 36 seconds into double overtime, Bergeron was on the wrong end of a penalty again, this time when he knocked Stone into the net and was whistled for interference. 

The Bruins did not receive any help from referees Chris Lee and Kelly Sutherland. They waved off Noel Acciari’s overtime goal, ruling that Kuraly had interfered with Anderson. Later in OT, they did not award the Bruins a penalty shot after Pageau seemingly covered the puck with his hand to keep it from crossing the line. 

But the Bruins also did their part to torpedo their chances to keep on playing. Rask made sure to wipe out his teammates’ mistakes. He had plenty of reinforcements from his defense.

Most 40-year-olds would cramp up simply by watching double OT. The ageless Chara churned through his 44 shifts barely breathing hard. The captain usually raises his hand for the first penalty-killing rotation alongside Adam McQuaid. But with McQuaid knocked out of the lineup, Chara had to assume the bulk of the shorthanded play.

Ottawa had 10 minutes of power-play time. Chara played 7:55 of that stretch, a mammoth workload for any defenseman. Miller, elevated to second-pairing status because of McQuaid’s absence, added 7:36 of shorthanded play. In total, Miller played 33:59 and blocked a team-high five shots. The right-side muscleman has just about guaranteed a position on the Bruins’ protected list for the expansion draft because of his dependable, head-cracking presence. 

Chara and Miller made life miserable for the Senators because of their good sticks and boisterous net-front clearance. Ottawa landed just five man-up shots on goal over 10 minutes. 

Behind Chara and Miller, Rask stood tall. He was the difference-maker, just like any No. 1 goalie is paid to be. Rask raised his postseason save percentage to .924 over five games, a good threshold for a team that wants to keep playing.

Rask is at his best when he gets his rest. He will not get it. Game 6 is on Sunday at 3 p.m., approximately 40 hours after the conclusion of Game 5. Rask will not be playing on a full tank. But it’s better than not playing at all.

Fluto Shinzawa can be reached at fshinzawa@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeFluto.