Where does Tuukka Rask’s big time dive save in Game 4 against the Sabres on Wednesday rank among the pantheon of great plays in Boston playoff history?

It had all the right elements: athleticism, desperation, clutch timing and big game stage. It does not rank up there with Bobby Orr’s Flying Leap or The Steal. Havlicek did not steal the ball nor did Tom Brady may or may not have tucked the ball.

Those are moments that will live forever mostly because those teams went on to win championships for the Boston faithful and when the retrospect was written, those were the defining moments of those particular seasons.

Is Rask the next great Boston postseason hero? Perhaps. He the defining moment part down but how well it, and he, are remembered five to 10 years from now comes down to how far Rask can take the Bruins in the playoffs.

In the meanwhile, it is Tuukka Time in Boston and the fans love it. His soaring popularity is not just for his steady play on the ice, though that is definitely a large factor but also his calm, seemingly careless demeanor and the fact that he is a beanpole rookie supplanting the best goaltender in the NHL last year in reigning Vezina Trophy winner Tim Thomas.

Imagine if Thomas had made that save Wednesday night. Would Boston be as enamored with him the way it is with Rask right now? It is hard to think that it would. Thomas has been around, is an older goaltender known as much for his acrobatics as his emotion. Rask has a certain glamour around him that Thomas never really has had. Part of that is the name. “Tuukka” is just sexier than “Timmy.” In a dressing room where all the players refer to each other with –y suffixes or shortened last names (Bergeron is Bergy, Marc Savard is Savvy, Dennis Wideman is Wides and Mark Recchi is Rex), Tuukka is just Tuukka.

The other part is that often times it looks like Rask just not really care about what is happening around him. He is not quite aloof but not always wholly present either, dismissive of things that others make big deals about. Asked about his first overtime playoff experience after Game 4, Rask thought about it for a second and said “I wished it was shorter” then calmly went on to describe the diving save as if it was more or less any other normal play.

“Well I got across there and then their first pass, and I was just trying to get set and then I realized he’s going to pass and I just threw everything I had to try and make that save,” Rask said. “And you know, sometimes you make those desperation saves, and at least if you give an effort, sometimes you get rewarded.”

It is hard to tell if Rask even realizes that he is a giant that just kicked the Boston sports anthill and caused a major ruckus. It is not in his personality to get too high or too low, which is quintessentially anti-Thomas and one of the greatest attributes a goaltender can have.

Johnny Boychuk spent last season with Rask in Providence and is closer to him that just about anybody else on the team. Boychuk, always the jokester, was playful when asked about Rask’s demeanor at Ristuccia Arena on Thursday and if he is aware of his popularity. 

“He is not that popular, don’t let it get to his head,” Boychuk said. “He plays the way he should and Boston fans love him right now. I think it is just that he is making key saves for us right now and everybody loves that, you know. It should be ‘Tuukka Time,’ he is playing unbelievable.”

Boychuk said that it is not likely that Rask’s success will go to his head but that he has his ways of bringing the goaltender back to Earth if he does. When pressed on what those tactics might be, Boychuk just gave a mischievous smile.

“We’d find a way,” Boychuk said.

Coach Claude Julien said that the Bruins have definitely noticed how big Rask has become.

“I know that we have noticed that he has become a pretty popular guy around town. When you hear them chanting his name at the game you have to understand and realize that he is a well liked player and he has earned it just by his play and what he has done for the team this year.” 

That is another mark of Rask’s path to becoming a Boston postseason icon – he has his own chant. When he makes a big save, TD Garden erupts in “Tuuuuuk,” much like the “Youuuuk” that Kevin Youkilis gets at Fenway. In the playoffs chants have moved away from the standard “Let’s Go Br-uins” to a two-syllable crescendo of “Tuu-kka, Tuu-kka.”

Really, you have not made it in as one of the great Boston postseason icons until you have your own chant.

In all seriousness, Rask’s ultimate icon status comes down to how far he can bring the Bruins, either this season or in the years to come. It would be all that much more dramatic if he could bring Boston a Stanley Cup this season considering the emotional and physical roller coaster it has been and the fact that it is the 40th anniversary of the last time Boston won a Stanley Cup. The storyline would be “Rookie Rask leads underdog Bruins to Lord Stanley’s Cup.”

And people would be talking about him for the next 40 years, just the way they do with Orr.

First things first. Let him play Game 5 against the Sabres Friday. Then we can talk about his seat at the table of legends.