Tuukka Rask still can’t think about the last time he was a No. 1 goalie. He had led the league in goals-against average and save percentage and won a playoff series as a 23-year-old, but the way it ended – a series collapse against the Flyers in 2010 in which he allowed 15 goals over the last four games of the series – still makes it a painful memory. 

“They were just re-airing those games on the NHL Network the other day, and I refused to watch that stuff,” Rask said after Tuesday’s simulated morning skate at TD Garden. “You know, it's still in the back of our heads a bit, at least on some level. Winning the Cup definitely helps forget those things.”

Though it was just three seasons ago, Rask’s been through a lot since then: A demotion to the No. 2 role thanks to a historic season from Tim Thomas in 2010-11, the Stanley Cup; an in-practice tantrum that he would later read about in the Finnish news; a groin injury that ended his 2011-12 regular season; a new contract; a lockout and a stint in the Czech Extraliga. 

Now, after what feels like much more than two and a half years, Rask is a No. 1 goalie again, and the question on everyone’s mind is whether he is any more prepared for it this time around. After all, he was just a kid when he wrested the top job from Thomas during the 2009-10 season. 

“I’m still a kid,” Rask said Tuesday with a grin. 

“I'm probably a little more patient and a few years more experienced,” he added. “Technique-wise, I haven't changed that much, but experience always helps.”

Rask has long been expected to eventually be a top NHL goalie. A first-round pick of the Maple Leafs in 2005, the Finland native has paid his dues with two seasons in Providence and three seasons in Boston that saw him on the bench the majority of the time. 

If you were to base everything on numbers, the Bruins shouldn’t be worried at all. Rask bounced back from an inconsistent 2010-11 season with a 2.05 goals-against average and .929 save percentage last year. In fact, he was on pace to potentially break Thomas’ .938 save percentage record as late as Jan. 17, when he led the NHL with a .946 clip. 

But numbers aren’t everything. There’s the question of durability – especially in a season with more games in a shorter span – and consistency. Rask will be playing far more consecutive games than he’s been accustomed to (he started back-to-back games twice last season), while it remains to be seen how his wiry frame will hold up. There’s no question that the talent is there, but there are still questions as the clock strikes Tuukka Time. 

Playing on a one-year, $3.5 million deal this season with the opportunity to cash in as a restricted free agent this coming summer, Rask can prove a lot in this shortened season. He feels that he and the Bruins already know what he’s capable of, but showing it would go a long way. 

“[I don’t feel I] necessarily have to prove it, but I want to prove it,” Rask said. “You always want to prove it, no matter what the situation is. If you have a one-year deal or an eight-year deal, you don't want to suck. It's just a matter of going out every night.”

A CHANGE FROM THOMAS

Thomas made a potentially Hall-of-Fame-if-only-he-had-played-a-few-more-seasons career out of playing as though he had never heard of goaltending prior to playing; Think of him as the Eddie Van Halen of the position. Roberto Luongo – pre-tire-pumping-nastiness – said prior to the Stanley Cup finals that he admired Thomas and that the difference between the two of them was that Luongo made saves facing the shooter.

That style of play yielded some of the most outrageous and seemingly impossible saves ever to grace YouTube, but that isn’t Rask. 

“Tuukka's style is definitely a lot calmer,” Dennis Seidenberg said. “Timmy is really a bouncing ball back there, stopping every puck, jumping from one side to the other. Tuukka is very sound positionally and just very calming back there. He covers the net very well, being in his position. It's comforting playing in front of him. He makes you feel calm and you feel like he's got everything under control.”

Indeed, there is far less chaos on the ice when Rask is in goal vs. when Thomas was between the pipes. Rask can only hope that he can get the same results as Thomas, but with his more traditional butterfly style of play. For Bruins defensemen, there definitely was a difference between playing with one or the other.  

“I had the same confidence no matter who was in that they were going to make the save,” Adam McQuaid said. “Sometimes Timmy would come really far out to challenge shots, and every now and then you had to be careful that you didn't back into him or something. Other than that, you try to worry about your own job.”

KING TUUKKA? THINK AGAIN

Just like Rask will never be Thomas, he’ll never be a Jonathan Quick (69 starts last regular season), Jonas Hiller (73) or Henrik Lundqvist (62) either. Not on this team, anyway. 

The Bruins have had success with a goaltending tandem. Though Thomas was clearly the team’s No. 1 goalie, he started 55 games in each of the last two regular seasons. That’s a solid workload, but not so much that he was drained by the time the playoffs rolled around. 

There’s the case to be made for that being a safe route. Henrik Lundqvist started 130 games over the last two seasons and the Rangers saw early exists in each of the last two postseasons. On the other hand, Quick had no trouble leading the Kings to the Stanley Cup last season after starting 69 games. 

However you feel about having a top goalie take the vast majority of the starts, don’t expect it to happen in Boston. Rask is the Bruins’ guy, but you’ll be seeing a lot of Anton Khudobin this year. That’s Claude Julien’s philosophy, and he’s going to employ it until it stops working. 

“I know I'm not a big fan of [having one workhorse] because some guys can play 70 games --I'm not disputing that -- but sometimes I like to have somebody who goes into the playoffs fresh and has lots of energy,” Julien said. “That's why I've always been one of those coaches that likes being able to rely on your No. 2 guy. One's going to play more than the other, but I don't want a guy as a backup who, every time I put him in the net, I'm holding my breath or keeping my fingers crossed. I want somebody that I feel I can trust, and that's what we've got here.”

Because of his frame (Rask is listed at 6-foot-3 and 169 pounds), there’s the question of whether he’d be able to handle that much of a workload. Consider that of six of the 13 goalies to start over 60 games last season weighed over 200 pounds, while only two weighed less than 185 pounds in Craig Anderson (183 pounds) and Ryan Miller (175).

Asked if he could ever see himself being that type of workhorse, Rask said he could, but he’s also buying what Julien’s selling.  

“That's why you train in the summer time,” he said. “If called upon, you've got to be ready to play 82 games, but I think it's going more towards less games being better for a goalie just because of those long playoff runs and stuff. You see goalies wearing out a little bit, so people talk about 50, 60 games or so. Whatever's necessary for the team.”