Rask wearing finger splint, talks splitting games during NHL's return

It's been a week of absent key players from practice for the Boston Bruins as training camp opened up Monday in preparation for the return of the NHL. One of those players that has been absent is Vezina-nominated goaltender Tukka Rask. Rask took part in a conference call with the fellow Vezina nominees Connor Hellebuyck and Andrei Vasilevskiy and could be clearly seen wearing a finger splint on the middle and ring fingers of his glove hand (left). You can skip ahead to 12 second to see the splint.

Luckily for the Bruins, Rask's injury doesn't appear to be serious. He has not been ruled "unfit to play." According to Jimmy Murphy of Boston Hockey Now, Rask took a hard shot to the hand during his first practice resulting in the finger injury. He sat out a couple of practices, but did participate on Friday.

Meanwhile, as we reported, star player David Pastrnak has been placed in quarantine after coming in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19. Pastrnak himself as tested negative and the quarantine appears to be more cautionary than anything else. It's not known how long he'll be out.

Boston is also missing winger Ondrej Kase, picked up at the trade deadline from Anaheim. His absence remains a mystery. Joakim Nordstrom is also on the missing list and, like Kase, no reason has been given for his absence.

During his call regarding the Vezina nomination, Rask talked about being able to split games with Jaroslav Halak. The duo has been mint for Boston all season long.

"We've had the luxury of me sharing the net with Jaro [Halak] the last couple of years and it's worked out great for us,” the 2014 Vezina Trophy winner said. “As far as the playoffs are concerned, you never know. You lay off for four months and then you right into playoff hockey, there might be some injuries and some nagging injuries that might happen, your groin or hips."

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