Tuukka Rask’s last regulation loss came on November 17th against the San Jose Sharks, 5-4. That game he allowed five goals on 28 shots in the Bruins’ mediocre effort.

The loss to San Jose continued an alarming trend for Rask. Like his teammates, Rask was a work in progress — a far cry coming from claiming the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender in 2014.

Things have changed. The Bruins, a team in transition, have improved and much of that is due to Rask. Over his last nine starts, the No. 1 B’s netminder is 7-0-2 to go along with a 1.36 goals against average and a save percentage of .958. He also notched three shutouts during this stretch against the Maple Leafs, Canucks and, most recently, Wednesday night against the Penguins.

“I think any team will tell you the same thing; there’s a lot of those guys around the league that teams rely on and have success because of that,” head coach Claude Julien told the media following Wednesday’s 3-0 triumph over Pittsburgh.

“Tuukka, we’ve been fortunate here in my time here that we’ve had some great goaltenders come through. Again, he’s a guy that when he’s on his game he’s one of the best. He’s feeling it in the last little while or whatever, last month, maybe even more. But he’s been the goalie that we all know he can be. And that’s how we felt about him at the beginning even though he struggled, we knew he’d find his game and he has.”

Prior to his first start against the Maple Leafs on November 21st, Rask came in with less than pedestrian numbers. His stat line: 5-7-1, 3.18 goals against average, .890 save percentage and just one shutout. Since then, the GAA has dropped to under 2.50, his save percentage has increased by 27 percentage points and his four shutouts are tied for the league lead with Corey Crawford, Jake Allen and Devan Dubnyk.

Unlike the start of the year, Rask now has the capability of stealing games that the Bruins have no business winning. That was evident in their road wins over the Maple Leafs on November 23rd and the Canadiens last Wednesday where the Black and Gold were outplayed for the majority of those contests. Yet, Rask stood tall and made some game-changing stops to keep his team in it.

“He looks sharp right now and he’s playing really well,” defenseman Adam McQuaid said on Wednesday. “He’s giving us a chance to get points on some nights that we haven’t deserved necessarily that, it could’ve went the other way. It’s good to see him playing well.”

Against the Penguins, Rask was tested in the second period as he faced 18 shots. He denied them all en route to the 34-save blanking of Pittsburgh.

As Rask continues to improve, the Bruins are reverting back to what’s made them successful under Julien. Their defense is slowly improving and helping Tuukka see the puck in their own end. His improved rebound control has helped deny the opposition second chances, which helps the B’s in their transition game.

While the Bruins possess one of the top scoring offenses in the league, the last thing they want to do is get in a track meet. That has not been the case lately as Rask remains calm, cool and collected and the defense in front of him is finding ways to establish layers.

“We’re not trying to win 4-3 or 5-4. We’re just kind of being patient and getting our chances and capitalizing on those, but defensively we’re getting so much better,” Rask said. “We take pride in that and we finally understood that that’s what our bread and butter is and has given us success a lot.

“We’re just playing, keeping it tight, you know, because they’re going to get shots but it’s just a matter of what kind of shots they’re going to get and lately it’s been on the outside and guys have been taking care of the rebounds, so that takes a lot of goals away.”