If nine Boston Bruins players are overseas, it would be only a matter of time before at least one or two of them came down with injuries while playing through the NHL lockout.
It appears the Bs have their first as Bs goaltender Tuukka Rask had to leave after the first period while playing for his Plzen team in the Czech League.
According to the twitter account of Roman Jedlicka, a play-by-play announcer in the Czech League, Rask was on the ice for the first period on a clean sheet for Plzen and didnt return for the second period of the game.
Jedlicka later updated his account to say that it looks like a groin injury for Rask, which is bad news for the Bruins.
Rask suffered a groinabdomen injury last year that wiped out the final six weeks of the regular season for the Bs goaltender. The injury could be a serious problem for a team that will enter this year relying on the Finnish netminder to play the bulk of their games.
He had a 2.05 GAA and .929 save percentage when healthy, but left the Bs scrambling for a backup goaltender to Tim Thomas when he went down March 3 against the New York Islanders. With Thomas out of the picture this season, the Bs are relying on Rask to be their No. 1 goaltender and have unproven Anton Khudobin as the next goalie standing if serious injuries hit the Boston goaltending tandem.
The Bruins signed Rask to a one-year deal entering the 2012-13 season ostensibly to see if the slightly-built Finnish goalie could withstand the physical rigors of 55-60 games played plus the playoffs.
Boston Bruins
Theres no word on how serious the groin injury is for Rask, but it's clearly not a good start for a 25-year-old goalie with plenty to still prove.