Behind the Rask will provide daily updates on Boston’s experiences throughout the Stanley Cup Final as seen through the eyes of the 24-year-old Finnish goalie.
In his second entry, Rask talks about how his team is handling two days off between games and the atmosphere in Vancouver and at the Rogers Arena for Game 1. His first installment can be found here.
Well, now we have two days off before Game 2, and that can be a little tough. Especially after the loss, you want to get back into the action as soon as possible. There’s nothing you can do about the schedule, though. We have two days in Vancouver and we’ll go through some things in our heads and figure some stuff out. We’ll get our rest and get ready for Saturday.
We spend a lot of time on the road during the year, and I just like to hang out with the guys. We’ll go to movies, just walk around downtown. We usually stay in pretty nice places and we’ll go to the restaurants and maybe a movie now and then -- just trying to kill some time. Nothing crazy.
I actually haven’t seen any movies yet during these playoffs, but my plan is to see "Hangover 2." That’s coming up, maybe tomorrow.
Tonight, we probably will stay close by. It’s a shocker -- it’s raining in Vancouver. I’m just going to go eat with the guys and have a good time. We’re just going to get our heads a little bit away from the loss and regain our focus.
Obviously, it’s a little harder at this stage as things get crazier. It’s a Canadian city, obviously, and we dealt with that in Montreal. It’s the Final, too. You kind of expect all the excitement. The fans here love their team and love hockey, so we knew what to expect. You just have to be ready for that or it can be overwhelming.
The rink here is always really loud. I remember when I played back here in 2007 in World Juniors, it was almost the same way when we played against Canada. Yesterday, obviously, their fans were really loud and they got the band in the stands going and it was a great atmosphere
I think that house band thing was a great idea. Maybe we’ll have to work on some matching thing when we get back to Boston. A couple of guys know the Dropkick Murphys pretty well and I know Kenny Casey too; so we might have to ask them.
There is always so much going on in the stands, too. Obviously, you see those two guys with the green suits and things like that. You can’t ignore them, but your main focus is on the game, whether you are playing or not playing. You have to watch the ice and watch what is happening out there or you might get hit by a puck. You see what is going on in the stands, but I don’t pay too much attention.
Now, we just have to focus on having a better Game 2.
I think we have been good throughout the year and throughout the playoffs at bouncing back from tough games and tough losses. We always bounce back. We have a lot of character guys in our group. Obviously, guys are upset with what happened, but you just have to realize that what is done is done and you just have to move on. You can’t start thinking about past too much. You just have to live in the present in focus on that.
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