WILMINGTON — Frame it as you will, but Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask won’t put himself in the picture. The Penguins are next for the Bruins, with the Stanley Cup’s Eastern Conference finals to begin Saturday night in Pittsburgh, and Cool Hand Tuke isn’t engaging in any talk that this is a series that will define him, that it’s a statement of his time and place with the team, a defining moment in his career.

“I just go out and do my best,’’ he said early Thursday afternoon, following Boston’s brisk 30-minute tuneup at Ristuccia Arena. “That’s all. I know it might sound stupid, but that’s how I feel.’’

That’s Tuukka to a T. While all the Hub of Hockey may be looking for a broader meaning to his game right now, Rask, 26, confronts it all with an unflappable ease, grace, patience. He was the media’s first and most obvious target following the workout, and there he stood, parked in his corner of the dressing room, arms crossed, patiently and calmly answering every question in his easy, matter-of-fact, we-all-good-here? manner.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/20...yPM/story.html