BOSTON — From the outside, it’s bound to be called a controversy.

Inside, it’s seen as nothing more than competition – internally, between players, and externally, between a team and its opponents.

For those reasons, Tuukka Rask isn’t complaining that Anton Khudobin got to start the Bruins’ last two games, and that he might start Wednesday’s road game against the Devils, too.

“(Khudobin’s) played very good hockey in all the games he’s played – the past two, especially,” Rask said after he and Khudobin participated in an optional practice on Monday. “When you play a game like (Thursday’s 2-1 win at Los Angeles), I think it’s very reasonable that he gets another start – because of the way we played, and the way he played.

“I have no issues with that. If I was the coach, I would have done the same thing.”

Coach Bruce Cassidy, who said on Monday that “we’re contemplating” starting Khudobin for the third straight time on Wednesday, can be confident that such a decision wouldn’t be debated: Khudobin’s win over the Kings, followed two nights later by a 3-1 decision at San Jose, gave the Bruins their first consecutive victories this season. They also lifted Khudobin’s 2017-18 numbers to 5-0-2, with a 2.17 goals-against average and .935 save percentage. Rask is 3-7-2, 2.89, .897, with three straight losses.

“We haven’t made our decision yet, so that tells you that we want to make sure we balance it right,” said Cassidy, who will name his starter most likely at the morning skate Wednesday at the Prudential Center. “But listen, (Khudobin’s) got a hot hand.”

Cassidy, Rask and even Khudobin are taking the situation in stride because none feel that Rask, the Bruins’ No. 1 goalie for the past five seasons, has gone cold.

“(Rask’s) numbers are what they are,” Cassidy said, “but I think … what we’re missing, it seems, in some of the games with Tuukka, is we need to make one more play to score a goal, or he needs to make one more big save.

“It’s not a situation where you go ‘Man, technically, he’s off.’ It’s not that.”

Until recently, Khudobin has had the benefit of scoring support: The Bruins scored 16 goals over his first three starts, before sliding to two or fewer in three of the last four. The Bruins have scored two or fewer in eight of Rask’s 12 starts, and had scored only one over the first two periods of a 6-3 loss on Oct. 11 at Colorado, in which Khudobin played the final 20 minutes.

Rask can’t do anything about those statistics.

“You can’t let that get in your head,” he said.

“The numbers are numbers. Obviously there’s some truth in it, but they don’t tell the whole story. Even if you’re winning, you don’t want to look at your numbers and say ‘I’m unbelievable,’ when your team’s playing unbelievable in front of you, and you’re getting wins and low scores.”

Khudobin, who first backed up Rask during the Bruins’ 2013 march to the Stanley Cup finals, and returned last season after playing in Carolina and Anaheim, has been around long enough to understand what the fuss is about.

“I played two in a row, and everybody talks about it, of course,” said Khudobin, who actually played three straight (2-0-1) when Rask was sidelined by a concussion in October. “Like I’ve always been saying … the more I’m playing, the better I’m feeling … I’ve got some kind of rhythm, yeah.”

Khudobin expects Rask to find his rhythm, too.

“He will be good,” Khudobin said. “You can’t play 100 games and save everything, pretty much. There can be ups and downs. It happens.”

NOTES: Less than three weeks after Nov. 2 surgery to remove a portion of his colon, winger David Backes skated on Monday, wearing a noncontact jersey. “The more I seem to work, the better my recovery is, and I’m able to do more the next day,” said Backes, who was projected to miss eight weeks. “Those are all positive signs.” … Defenseman Torey Krug and winger Anders Bjork, who have missed two and three games, respectively, with undisclosed injuries, remained off the ice on Monday.