The art of goaltending is known more as a science in the hockey nation of Finland.

Finland’s goalie development process and programs are far ahead of everyone else, and a glance across NHL rosters at the ubiquity of Finnish goalies over the past 20 years serves as an easy indication of the country’s dominance at that position.

This generation of Finnish netminders began with Miikka Kiprusoff. He enjoyed 12 seasons of success in the NHL with the San Jose Sharks (2000-03) and the Calgary Flames (2003-13). He won a Vezina in 2006.

For the past decade, the Nashville Predators’ Pekka Rinne has been considered the patriarch of Finnish goalies in the NHL.

Now it may be Tuukka Rask’s turn.

Rinne, 37, has one season remaining on his current contract with the Predators, and backup Juuse Saros has begun to take some of his starts. But even after 14 seasons, Rinne wants to continue to play as long as he’s healthy and productive because the competitive fire still roars in his hockey heart and mind. Whenever he does decide to retire, he will pass the Finnish hockey goalie torch onto Rask — though he’s not ready to hand it off quite yet.

“I don’t know if I see it that way,” Rinne said with a laugh, “but, yeah, for sure there’s something to that. Before me there was Miikka Kiprusoff, Niklas Backstrom, Vesa Toskala and even Kari Lehtonen. We’ve always had very good Finnish goalies.”

Rask, 32, owns an impressive resume. He will likely play his entire career with the Bruins. He was a backup for Tim Thomas when Boston won the 2011 Stanley Cup. Rask won the Vezina in 2014 and he’s guided the Bruins to Cup finals in 2013 and 2019. In fact, had the Bruins beat the St. Louis Blues in Game 7 last June, Rask would’ve earned the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP.

“Oh, it’s tremendous,” Rinne said of Rask’s career. “He’s been one of the top goalies, for sure, since he came into the league, especially when he started playing more after Timmy Thomas. Yeah, he’s been great. I’m happy for him, his career and he’s done really well.”

Alongside Rinne, the Bruins’ goalie has been one of the most consistent in the NHL for the last 10 seasons. Both have played for one organization. Both have won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender. Both have served as starters for their respective teams in a Stanley Cup final. Both played for the Finnish national team in the most recent World Cup of Hockey in 2016.

“It’s known to be a country where goalies come from and I’m just happy to be part of that pack,” Rask said.

Pekka Rinne in goal for Finland at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. (Kevin Sousa / USA Today)

Rinne believes Finnish hockey, starting at the youth level, has been on the rise, especially when it comes to developing goalies.

“It’s different with goalies, because goalies have always popped up from Finland,” Rinne said. “It’s a credit to the youth coaching and the goalie coaching. They pay a lot of attention to that and they provide you with a goalie coach from an early age.”

Behind Rask, the Finnish goalie bloodline should continue with the likes of the Coyotes’ Antti Raanta, Blue Jackets’ Joonas Korpisalo, Predators’ Juuse Saros, Wild’s Kaapo Kahkonen, Oilers’ Mikko Koskinen and Maple Leafs’ Kasimir Kaskisuo.

“You obviously want to see those guys do well,” Rinne said.

As a backup last season in Columbus, Korpisalo, 25, watched as Rask and the Bruins defeated goalie Sergei Bobrovsky and the Blue Jackets in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. When Bobrovsky signed with the Florida Panthers as a free agent during the summer, it opened the door for Korpisalo to take over the starting job in Columbus.

When Korpisalo was 18, he would watch the highlights from Bruins games and would attempt to mimic Rask’s style of play.

“When I was younger I was actually watching Tuukka a lot,” Korpisalo said. “Tuukka and Pekka and of course, Kiprusoff. Those were the three I watched, but probably Tuukka more.”

Korpisalo learned to work his post game similar to Rask. Most goalies put their skate blade on the post when they’re on the ice in order to push off. Rask puts his ankle inside the post, which is not an easy method to learn and have success. It helps, however, to alleviate the stress on goalies’ knees and keeps the edges on skates sharper.

“I tried to go ankle-to-post, but it just didn’t feel right for me,” Korpisalo said. “He does it really well.”

Saros, who has an opportunity to one day replace Rinne as the starter in Nashville, grew up idolizing Rask, Rinne, Kiprusoff and Backstrom. Given the fact that the Bruins would play a lot of matinee games, it gave Saros an opportunity to watch many of Boston’s games live due to the time difference. He would also watch YouTube clips of Rask and Rinne.

“I always really liked his game, even when he was a young guy. I saw a couple of games when he played in Finland. He was really good already back then,” Saros said of Rask. “Of course, he’s been really good every year (in Boston). Like, just how precise he is with everything and it’s fun to watch him. You can see how he plays situations and it makes sense. You can always pick something from other goalies and adjust it to your game, but how he moves and reads the game is really impressive.”

Saros also understands he has the opportunity to one day take the Finnish goalie torch from Rask and carry it onto the next generation.

“I’m still on my way there and that’s my goal to be in this league for a long time,” Saros said.

Predators coach Peter Laviolette has worked with numerous Finnish goalies during his career, including Rinne and Saros. The coach has witnessed the success of Finnish goalies in the last two decades, but he can’t put his finger on why they’re so successful.

“I’m not sure I have an answer for that,” Laviolette said with a smirk. “I don’t know if they ate some special Finnish (food) as kids.”

If Rask can continue to remain healthy, he could guide his teammates to another run for a championship in Boston. Since he only has one season remaining on his contract, it also wouldn’t be a surprise if Rask decides to call it a career once his deal expires.

“He’s still competitive and you need to have that fire inside you and he definitely has that,” Rinne said.

Earlier this season, before Rask played his 500th career NHL game, he was asked how much longer he wants to play.

“It’s tough to say. The day you start thinking ‘What am I doing here? I should be doing something else,’ that’s the time you check yourself and see how long you want to play,” he said. “So far, I’m having fun and staying in shape. (Being) healthy is a big part of that. If you’re lucky enough to retire on your own terms, you’ve won the battle because you see so many guys not being able to do that because they’re either hurt or forced out of the league. I haven’t really thought about that, but goalies tend to play longer than the players, so we’ll see.

Rinne described himself and Rask as “great friends” and added the Bruins goalie is an “easygoing guy who doesn’t stress about anything.” He knows that once he is done, Rask will be the bridge to the next generation of Finnish goalies.

“When I’m done I hope Tuukka still has a lot of success,” Rinne said. “The same thing goes for all these young guys.”

(Top photo of Rask: Jerome Miron / USA Today)