He never dug really deep into his plumber’s toolkit, in part because Tuukka Rask already was a very good goalie and dreaming of an NHL career in his teenage years. But because he figured a day could come when bricking up the front of a 24-square-foot hockey net might not provide a living, Rask spent a small part of his high school years in Finland studying and training to be a plumber.

“I can’t say I was very good at it,’’ Rask recalled late last summer, when all NHLers were considering alternative employment prior to the lockout beginning Sept. 15. “But, yeah, it was something I tried . . . enough to know it’s hard work. Probably good for me that hockey worked out OK.’’