Posts Tagged ‘Jaroslav Halak’

Montreal vs Florida comments

Jacques Martin’s team managed to do something that they haven’t been doing a whole lot of this season… outshoot their opponents. However, the final shot count was as close as you can get. The Habs edged the Panthers 39-38 in shots.

Jaroslav Halak was the game’s first star as he stopped all 38 of Florida’s shots facing off against former Habs pick Tomas Vokoun who was named the game’s 2nd star.

I certainly wasn’t on the edge of my seat watching the game and to be honest I’m surprised at the high shot totals. Maybe it was just me… but I didn’t find it was a spectacular game.
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A 1 – 2 Goalie punch?

Alot is being said about the goaltenders in Montreal in the media. Will one get traded? When? For who/what? Which one?….etc.

This morning I read this great article on The Hockey News site titled “Top Shelf: Re-packaging the 1-2 goalie punch“.

The author (Ryan Dixon) mentions that there is another team doing a very similar thing that is going on with the Habs as of late. That is, each goaltender has played a substantial number of games.
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Jaroslav Halak named 1st star and Olympian

Jaroslav Halak had been totally on fire coming in to last night’s game against the Ottawa Senators. Facing 48.7 shots per game over a 4 game span (and winning each) he showed once again that he can play… and wants to play.

The road to the NHL hasn’t been handed to Jaroslav. He had to play in the AHL with Hamilton and while he had been called up as a young goaltender in Montreal, he was sent back to do time in Hamilton.

Halak always showed up and played.

The young goaltender certainly is making the case for being given a shot as the number 1 goaltender in Montreal. Or if not in Montreal, somewhere else.

This puts Montreal’s management in an interesting position. Having 2 great young goaltenders.

He has earned all the respect he’s getting… NHL 1st star and named to the Slovakian Olympic team!

Montreal Canadiens vs Atlanta Thrashers – 2009/2010 season 38th game highlights and comments

Here are the game highlights from the Montreal Canadiens vs the Atlanta Thrashers played on December 21th 2009…. but first some comments.

The Canadiens won the game 4-3 in Overtime (which was predicted with little time to play in the 3rd on Twitter by Arpon Basu). It wasn’t the prettiest of games. Montreal were again outshot by a very large margin. Overall team defensive play has to be improved to cut down on the shots that make it to either Jaroslav Halak or Carey Price.

You can’t expect to win very many games in the NHL if your opponent is in your zone firing rubber at your goaltender most of the evening. Although I will say that in the case of the Montreal Canadiens at least Jacques Martin has 2 very capable young goalies to rely upon. But they won’t steal every game.

Jaroslav Halak was, in the end, left to face 53 shots (that made it through to him) stopping 50 of them. Is that not scary? If I was coaching this team that would be one of the most frightening numbers that I would have to face…. never mind they somehow won the game. The last several years the Montreal Canadiens were outshot alot and though this year it seemed that it was getting a bit better early on it’s pretty much back to where it was in terms of these shot totals.
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Habs bits of the week

Thought I would highlight a few articles that I read over the last week.

Price/Halak – The Stats – October 2009
by Chris Boyle for Eyes on the Prize

This is a great article on the goaltender statistics and it cuts through to the bare facts.

Chris does a great analysis of the shots both Halak and Price have faced will visual graphs displaying where the shots were taken from as well as the save percentage per area.

Really worth the read!

Hockey Night in Canada Takes Interest in All Habs’ Feud
by Rocket for All Habs
AND
UPDATES: Walsh controversy
by  Rocket for All Habs

The night that I wasn’t on Twitter at all (you can find me on twitter at @yves_on_habs) there was a bit of controversy as Halak’s agent Mr Allan Walsh tweeted a comment about Carey Price’s stats. If you want the whole story please read the articles on the All Habs blog!

Well written and described.

Learning to live without Markov
by Topham for Lions in Winter

This article contains some numbers showing just what the team’s play has been like when Markov has been out. Some interesting numbers in this article and if you thought Markov was an important player the team’s most important player this article might provide proof of his value through the last few seasons.

Andrei, I miss you!

Halak getting respect

We’re about 30 minutes away from game time. Montreal faces the Pittsburgh Penguins this evening and once again Yaroslav Halak will be in net.

It’s been a long winding road for Halak as the last couple of years it seemed like no matter what he would do, steal games, stop 50 shots…. he would soon sit. He didn’t see too many games in a row as most times the reigns were always given to Price.

This season, it seems as though Martin might be playing whoever is sharp.

I’m hoping that this is a real opportunity for both young goalies… they’ll both get the games, and they gotta perform.

Is this creating a real competition? Will this essentially push both?

Only time will tell.

Enjoy the game!

Looking for answers

After getting a short winning streak going, the Canadiens played their hearts out in a first period against Buffalo… the a quick goal at the end of the first… no big deal…

Halak gets the call and A. Kostitsyn

Jaroslav Halak gets the call in goal monday night vs the Florida Panthers.