By Kevin Flanagan

BSD Correspondent

When the Bruins packed up their game to head out west, the trip was billed as a test to see if the B’s were the real McCoy. So far they have failed that test.

Sure they miss Dennis Seidenberg – the team has allowed 21 goals in the 6 games he missed since tearing up his ACL & MCL at the Garden against Ottawa last month – but it is more than that. Goalie Tuukka Rask is playing like someone that is tired both physically and mentally.

It is time Tuukka got some time off.

I understand the reason that the Bruins brain trust wanted back up in waiting, Niklas Svedberg, to begin the season playing on a regular basis in Providence but that is a luxury that they can no longer afford. Rask has started just under 80% (35 of 44) of the big club’s games and that is a workload that is simply too much to ask from any goalie in today’s game, not to mention one that played until late June last summer.

Svedberg should be summoned immediately and play at least every third game – if not every other – from now until the Olympic break in February. Keep in mind, Rask might be very busy in Sochi as well if he is named the starting backstop for the Finnish team.

The Bruins are a team that is built to play well into the early summer again this year, but they won’t get there if they over burden their fabulous Finn with regular season starts. Svedberg has shown he is more than adequate at the NHL level and, much like they have done with some of the other kids in their system (Ryan Spooner, Justin Florek, Nick Johnson, Kevan Miller, etc.), it is time for them to give the kid a shot with the big club and see what he has to offer.

While the West Coast trip has exposed some of the team’s warts, it is also a product of the long NHL season and if you have watched this Bruins team for any length of time you know that they are susceptible to stretches of uninspired hockey. With Loui Eriksson and Shawn Thornton nearing a return to the lineup, the competition to keep playing time up front should increase the level of play amongst the forwards.

In the meantime as they search for solutions to the hole created by Seidenberg’s absence, they need to lighten the load on their starting goaltender. Otherwise when they enter the playoffs this spring they just might find out that they spent the best minutes of Tuukka Time on regular season games in January.