As Jonas Gustavsson was the lone goalie on the ice during the Bruins’ optional skate Saturday morning at TD Garden, it appeared that Tuukka Rask was in line to make his fifth consecutive start Saturday night when the Bruins hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets. But late Sunday afternoon, head coach Claude Julien decided to call an “Omaha” or as most quarterbacks call it, an audible.

“Yeah, you know, he got the news at the last minute that he was playing. Tuukka [Rask] was scheduled to play, and we made a change there this afternoon for certain reasons that Tuukka wasn’t 100 percent; nothing major, obviously he’s a backup,” Julien told the media following Saturday’s contest. “So he had to go in there, and for a guy who found out just as he got to the rink this afternoon he did well. He was well prepared.”

Well prepared is what he was. Gustavsson made 31 saves on 33 shots including a handful of key saves while the Bruins were shorthanded to end regulation and begin overtime. After the extra session failed to produce a winner, Gustavsson stopped both of the Blue Jacket’s shootout attempts in the Bruins 3-2 victory Saturday night.

Usually, when Gustavsson gets to the rink for the morning skate, he knows it’s his turn to help lead the Bruins to victory later that night. With the team finding out Rask was not 100 percent later in the day, things were a bit different for the veteran backup.

“Obviously, you got to try to be ready no matter what the situation is, you know, anything can happen in a game and so on,” said Gustavsson, who picked up his eighth win of the season Saturday night. “So, obviously prepared maybe a little bit different, but in general, it’s pretty much the same. So when I got here, like I said, it was just about doing the same routines and all that and play the game.”

After a sloppy performance Thursday night against the Vancouver Canucks, the Bruins were not much better against the Blue Jackets. With a few breakdowns in their own end, defenseman Torey Krug is thankful that Gustavsson was there to back him and the rest of his teammates up.

“Hell of a job by Gus,” said Krug, who secured the win with his shootout tally.

“He won the game for us tonight. He bailed us out numerous times, me specifically many times tonight. So I was lucky that he was back there for us, and he’s always prepared. It’s what makes him a great backup in this league and we’re lucky he’s on our side.”

After a soft goal cut the Bruins second period lead in half, followed by the tying goal off of a puck that got deflected en route to Gustavsson, the Boston’s No. 2 goalie made sure he would do his part in getting them back into the win column.

The win wasn’t the prettiest for Gustavsson and the Bruins — especially against one the league’s worst teams in Columbus, but the Bruins will take the two points any way they can get them.

“Yeah, you know, every game is different I guess,” added Gustavsson. “Today I felt like the puck was bouncing a lot. They had some big guys, too, in front of the net that, you know, had to fight my way around to see the puck and so on. But, you know, sometimes it’s not pretty, but we’ll take two points.”