Report: Rask to leave Czech team, return to Boston

Tuukka Rask is on his way back to Beantown.

That’s the word out of the Czech Republic on Thursday as sources claim the Bruins netminder will leave Extraliga team HC Plzen after his next game and return to Boston.

Here’s more, from CSNNE.com’s Joe Haggerty:

The 25-year-old Finnish goalie has been dominant in the Czech League while putting up a 6-2 record along with a 1.86 goals against average and .936 save percentage while backstopping the first place team.

He had an early health scare when he felt a groin tweak in his first game in the Czech League, but has been 100 percent healthy and outstanding between the pipes since then.

According to Matias Strozyk of Elite Prospects, Rask will play his final game for Plzen tomorrow (Friday) and fly to Boston on Sunday “to wait for NHL to start.” Rask also hasn’t ruled out a return to the Extraliga, reports suggest.

As Haggerty alluded to, Rask has been dominant in the Extraliga thus far. He’s been largely credited for Plzen’s early-season dsuccess (they’re tops in the league) and here’s a noteworthy review of his play from Roman Jedlicka, an NHL play-by-play announcer for Czech TV’s NOVA Sport:

Tuukka Rask is the main – not only but main – reason why Pilsen is at 1st place in Czech league. He could put label CLOSED on his goal.

— Roman Jedlicka (@jedli) November 21, 2012