the thing that stood out for me with Thomas that year was the 2 shutouts he had in game 7s.
Yep, absolute clutch, defining performances, the types of games that get you remembered forever.
I've commented on this before, but it's interesting and worth repeating - Rask's overall playoff numbers are outstanding (.927 SV%, 2.19 GAA), up there with the very best of all time. Not
quite Thomas level but he's already played a fair bit more postseason hockey than Tim ever did.
But in games where the Bruins are facing elimination, whether that be a game 4, 5, 6 or 7 in any particular series, he's not quite so good. In those games Rask's numbers are a .891 SV% and a 2.75 GAA, with a 6-6 W/L record. Not terrible, but far from amazing. So Tuukka presents as a slightly curious case - like most of the great goalies he ups his game in playoffs and puts in some of his best performances, but in the absolute clutch, no tomorrow games, more often than not he's just ok. Had a couple of great wins that he's stolen almost single-handedly, but also a few games where he's been not quite as sharp as you would hope.
Is this just bad luck, poor team defense letting him down, or has it been a mental thing where he finds it just that little bit harder to lock in and play his instinctive best in these types of games? Hard to say, but to me it remains the one question mark on an otherwise stellar career.