There were several chances for Tuukka Rask to blink in the third period Tuesday and lose his first shutout of the season.

But the Bruins goalie, on the heels of replacing Tim Thomas on Saturday in Columbus, didn’t flinch. He turned away all 20 shots in the third period, and all 41 for the game as the Bruins beat the Kings, 3-0.

“I just tried to save every puck,” Rask said of his ninth career shutout. “You don’t want to think about shutouts because you might chase yourself but – couple tough chances in the end but that was it.

“You just try to protect your lead and we hopefully get that third goal. They came out hard so got some pretty good chances but were able to keep them off the scoreboard and then Marchy [Brad Marchand] got a nice goal there to extend the lead so that was good to see.”

Kings wing Dustin Brown had a golden opportunity with just about three minutes remaining when Johnny Boychuk lost contain on his man.

“[Brown] pretty much didn’t have anything else and just tried to shoot it upstairs, don’t know if he actually shot it low or something but it was some kind of misplay there and Johnny was just taking back door and he left the guy there for me and – hit something,” Rask said.

Rask said he wasn’t looking at the shots accumulating on the scoreboard during the final 20 minutes.

“I don’t think you have time to watch the shot clock or anything but you definitely feel the momentum changing at times and today they had a lot of chances in the third,” he said. “And maybe we weren’t at our sharpest but they came at us pretty hard too.

So, on a night the Bruins didn’t have captain Zdeno Chara for the first time this season, the Bruins needed Rask to be the true last line of defense.

“Probably some part of that is Z missing but I think we also need to tighten up,” Rask said. “We weren’t that bad we didn’t give too many second chances and lots of shots came from the outside and stuff. But it’s just one of those games where you get lots of shots against and I don’t think it’s because of [Chara] missing.

“You need some luck to have some shutouts too. They had a couple of posts today. And I think it’s definitely tougher to have a shutout than to play one period.”

Now, Claude Julien has a decision to make. Will he ride the hot hand tonight in Ottawa with Rask or will he go back to his No. 1 in Tim Thomas? No matter the answer, Rask showed Tuesday that the Bruins now have two dependable netminders as they hit the road to take on the Senators and Flyers this week.

“He was good tonight, arguably our best player tonight,” Julien said. “He stood tall and they threw a lot of shots at him, certainly not easy shots to stop. There was a lot of traffic in front of the net—screens. He had the quick feet going, made the saves on close-range and was probably our best player. So he got better as the game went on and I thought he did a good job the other night coming in and kind of settling himself in in the third period and then he just carried that into tonight.”

Following another head-scratching performance Thursday — when the Bruins blew a pair of one-goal leads on home ice and lost, 4-2, to the Sabres — venerable B’s spokesman Mark Recchi again called out his teammates for not giving it their all.

“We didn’t have everybody going, and that’s what happens when you don’t have everybody going. And when we’ve got 20 people going, we’re just really tough to play against,” Recchi opined. “We don’t have everybody going [on] all cylinders and competing at the level we should you know it just makes it hard for us. And I think we know that and we’ve been a lot better at it lately and more consistent and we just have to keep learning from these ones that when we do have these, that there’s reasons why.”

There was a very good reason for Recchi’s post-game ego check following a week that saw them score a pair of seven-goal wins. They also had a pair of losses in which they managed two goals apiece. The Bruins need more consistency all around if they’re going to make April and May truly meaningful.

He believes they can and so does coach Claude Julien, who matched Recchi’s sentiment almost word for word
Thursday night.

“Well there’s no doubt,” Julien began. “I don’t think from start to finish, I don’t think there’s much to say here except that we were totally flat, from the first player to the last. So it’s not about pointing to one or pointing to the other, we came out flat tonight and never seemed to find our game. Even in the third period, you are coming in there tied and you got an opportunity, twenty minutes again, to seal your fate and it just wasn’t happening tonight

“We were flat. I’m not saying guys were bad, I’m saying we were flat tonight so that’s the thing that I, you know, we kind of talked about after the game, is that from the first player to the last, just didn’t have it.”

The Bruins did put 40 shots on U.S. Olympic goalie Ryan Miller but only two got through, none in the third period when the Sabres took over.

“He made some lucky ones, he made some great saves,” Recchi said. “We had a lot of traffic. You know he’s a good goalie. But he made the saves he had to make and a couple snuck behind him and he got some help but that’s what happens when you’re a goalie, you make those saves.”

Recchi said the 40 shots were nice but not good enough.

“It wasn’t our game, no it wasn’t what we’re capable of doing,” Recchi said. “And we’ll just have to regroup. We’ve got a tough trip ahead of us and we’re a pretty good road team so we have to again learn that consistency is going to be a big part of us being a very … a great team instead of just a real good team, and we’re getting there and we gotta keep pushing along here.”

That push continues Saturday in Colorado and Monday in Los Angeles against the Kings — perhaps with just a little more purpose behind it.

Life in the NHL – or any sport for that matter – can be unsettling. Just ask Marco Sturm, or his Bruins teammate and fellow German countryman Dennis Seidenberg.

Just hours after multiple media reports had Bruins forward Marco Sturm waiving his no-trade clause and being traded to the Los Angeles Kings, the Bruins made a formal effort to put the brakes on the story. Immediately following Thursday’s win over Tampa, the team – through GM Peter Chiarelli – released a statement on the report that they had traded Sturm to the Los Angeles Kings.

“I am aware of the various media reports today regarding Marco Sturm,” said Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli. “I can confirm that I spoke to Marco about waiving his no trade clause and have had discussions regarding Marco with other teams. I can also confirm that there is no trade in place with Marco. At this time, Marco is a member of the Boston Bruins and will continue to train with our team.”

Seidenberg said he spoke with Sturm earlier in the day and said Sturm confirmed to him that he had waived the no-trade. Now, Seidenberg and the rest of the team await the next move as Sturm’s future with the team appears in limbo.

“It is very tough, everybody loves Marco here,” Seidenberg said following the 8-1 thrashing of the Lightning. “He’s been a big part of our organization and he’s a great guy and I think any time you see a guy leave, especially in an awkward situation right now, it’s just tough.”

Seidenberg said he spoke to Sturm before Thursday’s game and he was under the impression that Sturm had already accepted the deal to L.A.

“He told me he agreed to waive it,” Seidenberg said. “I don’t know what’s going on. I haven’t talked to him since.”

BOSTON  –  Patrice Bergeron stood before reporters with a very somber face in front of his locker following Saturday’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Los Angeles Kings at TD Garden.

Good reason.

His Bruins, despite getting back the services of Marco Sturm and Steve Begin, still couldn’t find a way to hold a 2-1 third period lead and fell in a shootout. Yes, the Bruins captured one point but as Bergeron pointed out afterward, when you’ve now lost seven in a row and six straight at home for the first time in 85 years, that one point seems of extremely little consolation.

“Tonight was a good effort but we’ve got to find a way to get those two points,” Bergeron said. “We kept having some chances. We scored a goal, on the power play. I don’t think they were all over us with that 2-1 but they found a way to come back and tie it.”

Bergeron’s take on the 3-2 shootout which still leaves the Bruins on the outside looking in at the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

Bruins coach Claude Julien said the team is coming around.

Marco Sturm talked afterward about his first outing in seven games as he returned from a leg injury.