Rask, starting his second straight game, shook off Afinogenov’s goal, then in overtime, Rask stopped three Atlanta shots. Then in the shootout, he foiled Rich Peverley, Slava Kozlov, and Ilya Kovalchuk.
At the other end, Patrice Bergeron scored the only goal of the shootout. As the leadoff shooter, he jerked to the forehand, causing Ondrej Pavelec to bite hard. Bergeron then tucked the puck into the open net to lead the Bruins to a 4-3 shootout win before 12,112 at Philips Arena.
“That goal in the end could have been a killer,’’ said coach Claude Julien. “But our guys decided that we weren’t going to let that beat us down. We were going to find some way to win, and Tuukka came up big in the shootout.’’
Thomas participated in yesterday’s morning skate and didn’t appear to be in any discomfort. He was also on the ice for pregame warm-ups and made some acrobatic saves at the end of warm-ups.
“It’s a minor undisclosed injury,’’ said Julien. “We were better with Tuukka in tonight. We’ll see how it is [today]. But it’s short-term.’’
The late goaltending switch was one of several moves the coaching staff made yesterday. Milan Lucic returned to the lineup for the first time since Oct. 16 and lined up with Steve Begin and Byron Bitz on the No. 3 line.
But the more significant change was altering the second and third defensive pairings. After a long discussion, Julien and assistant coach Craig Ramsay decided that Dennis Wideman would be more effective playing with Andrew Ference than Matt Hunwick.
“We both felt that maybe separating those two offensive-minded defensemen and putting a more defensive-minded defenseman with Wides would allow him to go up the ice and make some offensive plays,’’ Julien said. “And maybe take a little pressure off Hunwick and put him with a more stay-at-home defenseman as well. Then he could go up the ice.
“I thought both responded well. Give them credit for that. But [Ference and Mark Stuart] need credit, too, for adjusting to two new guys. I thought our pairings tonight were well-balanced.’’
