After the Bruins’ Game 2 loss to Carolina in the first round of the playoffs, Rask said it felt more “like an exhibition game” than a playoff game and that he was “just trying to have fun” and “not stressing too much about results.”
Rask said he regrets making those comments.
“A hundred percent,” Rask said. “I think my issue sometimes is I just tend to be a little too honest. I might have to use a filter a little bit more. Obviously that probably just goes to show what my mindset was at that time, and I probably could have chosen my words better. But it is what it is. It’s behind us now and we’re focused on the new season.
“Obviously it was so much different because there were no fans,” he added. “They try to pump the crowd noise in there, but it’s all mechanical. It’s different, but listen, we’re professionals. I shouldn’t be complaining about that. Just play hockey. The situation is what it is. It’s going to be the same this year, at least at the start. At least now I guess we’re used to it. I won’t be complaining about that, I’ll tell you that.”
Another question Rask hadn’t really addressed yet was whether he ever considered returning to the bubble if or when his family situation was taken care of. Asked about that possibility by Jermaine Wiggins, Rask said he never even got that far.
“I don’t think I ever even got that far to think about it,” Rask said. “The games ended a couple weeks after I came home. But I think the thing for me is that there was no plan from the league, no real plan, to allow families to enter the bubble. It was almost impossible for anybody to come there. So for me to leave my family again and possibly go through the same situation, I don’t think that made any sense. So that was probably something that I thought about.”
