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Kalman: Khudobin Shows Bruins Goaltending Depth Is Least Of Their Problems

By Matt Kalman

BOSTON (CBS) – With his performance against the Calgary Flames on Friday, goaltender Anton Khudobin alleviated one fear for the Bruins.

The Bruins don't have to worry about goaltender Tuukka Rask playing so much he wears down. Because with 27 saves on 29 shots in the Bruins' 2-1 loss, Khudobin provided the type of goaltending they wanted from their No. 2 when they signed Khudobin as an unrestricted free agent July 1.

"He was good," said Bruins coach Claude Julien, whose praise of his goaltender matched his team's offensive impotence.

The Bruins have scored two or fewer goals in six of their past seven games. Through two periods against the Flames, they had 16 shots on net and 12 shots that missed. They finished the game with 36 shots on net but 22 that missed.

If the Bruins' offensive woes – other than the masterful David Pastrnak, who now has 12 goals in 16 games – continue, they might need lights-out goaltending to have any chance to return to the Stanley Cup playoffs after missing them for two years straight.

Khudobin's season didn't start the way he or the Bruins wanted. He allowed eight goals on 53 shots faced in his first two starts. Then Oct. 26 he sustained an upper-body injury that put him on injured reserve until Friday. While Khudobin was out, Rask missed three games with injury but continued to add to his Vezina Trophy credentials and now is 11-4-0 with a 1.67 goals-against average and .938 save percentage. Zane McIntyre and Malcolm Subban hardly gave Julien a reason to give Rask a rest and Rask had made the seven prior starts before Khudobin's return.

Maybe the reset of getting injured and then going to Providence in the American Hockey League for three games of a conditioning stint was the best thing to happen to Khudobin. Some 30-year-old goaltenders may have balked at the suggestion he go to Providence, but he knew he had to put in the extra work to return to the NHL in peak form.

"Just get back into game shape," he said about his conditioning stint. "So no matter how you're practicing, at the practices and the gym, it's not going to give you much as you have game shape. So that's what I had three games there and kind of started feeling more puck and get back here and have the action right away, which is really good."

Khudobin went 2-0-1 with a 3.49 GAA in three starts for the P-Bruins and the work obviously paid off. No one can blame Khudobin for the two goals he allowed to the Flames. Sam Bennett beat him on a breakaway with a perfectly placed wrist shot from the left hash mark in the first period. In the third, Alex Chiasson cashed in on a give-and-go with Bennett after a defensive breakdown in front of Khudobin.

The only reason the Bruins had a chance to tie the score both when they were down 1-0 and 2-1 was Khudobin's play. He robbed Matthew Tkachuk on a point-blank chance in the first period and made several other solid saves, especially late in the game when the Bruins were pressing for the equalizer and the Flames took advantaged with some quality chances off turnovers and on counter attacks.

"I'm in good shape and I'm moving pretty well and I feel the puck. And now I felt pretty good and it's just the only thing that bothers me, I have three losses. I want that magic W," said Khudobin, who is 0-3-0 for Boston.

That magic W may be more elusive than Khudobin would like depending on if the Bruins can figure out a way to score and how long it takes defenseman Zdeno Chara to get back from his lower-body injury. Khudobin's performance against the Flames, though, was the blueprint performance for a goaltender who will eventually earn a win and continue to keep goaltending off the list of things the Bruins have to worry about.

Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @MattKalman.

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