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Felger & Mazz: Does Tuukka Need A Time Out?

BOSTON (CBS) - To say that Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask has struggled as of late would be the biggest understatement of the new year.

In his five games since the Dennis Seidenberg injury, Rask has allowed a jaw-dropping 17 goals. That's two touchdowns, two extra points and a field goal. That won't get it done in the regular season, let alone the playoffs.

It's hard not to point to the Seidenberg injury as a reason for this scoring bananza. The stalwart defenseman tore the ACL and MCL in his right knee on December 27 and the team hasn't looked right since.

Both general manager Peter Chiarelli and team president Cam Neely have said on 98.5 The Sports Hub that Seidenberg is one of those irreplaceable guys - but the team's defensive woes can't be based solely on his absence, can they?

The 26-year-old Rask has been pulled from the game three times in his past ten starts - two of which coming in the last five.

Is Rask simply going through a midseason slump?

Or should we be worried that the injury to Dennis Seidenberg is more serious than maybe we first gave it credit for?

"I told you [Felger] when Seidenberg went down at the time that it was a major loss, and the more it goes on the more I worry," Tony Massarotti said Friday afternoon. "I just think with guys like Seidenberg: it's bad now, but come playoff time it'll be one hundred times worse."

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Mazz thinks the Bruins would be wise to get a player in here before the Olympic break, and that they should act fast.

"Don't wait. Do it now."

Michael Felger doesn't have the same sense of urgency as Mazz does.

Felger feels like we've seen this happen before with the Bruins, and that sometimes during the regular season they fall into this lull. But come playoff time, they'll flip the switch.

Felger is not averse to a trade, listen to some possibilities and the full discussion below:

Does Tuukka Need A Time Out?

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