Tuukka Rask takes Roman Josi blast in throat area (Video)

Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask was forced to leave his team’s game against the Nashville Predators on Thursday after taking a slap-shot in his throat area.

The play occurred at the 12:49 mark of the first period when Predators defenseman Roman Josi fired the blast from the top of the left circle off a rush. Rask then fell to the ice in pain as the Bruins’ trainer rushed to his aid.

During the second period the Bruins tweeted that Rask was “being evaluated” and was not likely to return to the contest. Backup Zane McIntyre entered the game for Boston.

According to CSN New England, following the game Rask said he was going to be OK.

“(Rask) got the shot there in the throat area, and he’s being evaluated,” Coach Claude Julien said. “He wasn’t well enough to come back, and we’ll see moving forward how he does.”

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Coming into Thursday, Rask had started 33 of the Bruins’ 44 games and held a 21-9-3 record to go along with a 1.97 goal-against average and .926 save percentage. Earlier in the week, Rask had been named to the 2017 NHL All-Star Game from the Atlantic Division.

The Bruins lost 2-1 and McIntyre stopped 14 of 16 shots on goal. McIntyre and Anton Khudobin, the two Boston netminders other than Rask who have started team games this season, are now a combined 1-8-2 for Boston.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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