from Chris Johnston of Sportsnetr,

... This is the new normal in the NHL.

Where once Martin Brodeur and Miikka Kiprusoff were celebrated for routinely playing 70-plus games per season, teams are now putting their top puck-stoppers on a pitch count. Six of the eight teams still standing in Round 2 didn’t even have a goaltender appear in 50 regular-season games.

Bobrovsky is one of the exceptions, but his 62 games were still a slight decrease from the previous two seasons. He played 355 fewer minutes overall this year and saw 237 fewer shots and has had the wear and tear between games reduced even further since Kinkaid’s arrival on Feb. 25.

The Russian got four games off entirely during the final month of the season while Kinkaid backed up Joonas Korpisalo and isn’t taking the ice at all on off days during the ongoing series with Boston.

“It’s such a unique position, the amount of pressure that’s on the goalie,” said Tortorella. “We’re letting Bob run on his schedule. How he feels most comfortable getting prepared for the next game.”

Given that Bobrovsky and Boston counterpart Tuukka Rask have been the stars of a series that sits at 2-2 heading into Saturday’s Game 5 at TD Garden, the approach makes a lot of sense.

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