Boston Bruins: Jaroslav Halak celebrates his 500th NHL game with a shut-out

Jaroslav Halak celebrated his 500th NHL game in some style, securing a shut-out in a 2-0 Boston Bruins win.

Whilst the Boston Bruins and Jaroslav Halak had the pipes to thank on a couple of occasions, what with the Carolina Hurricanes hitting a couple of posts, it was a very steady display otherwise.

Jaroslav Halak showed exactly why we could argue that the Boston Bruins have the best goaltending tandem in the entire league, and although the puck did end up in the net once on the night, that was waved back.

In fact, it was quite a flukey occurrence in itself; with Jacob Slavin somehow managing to pop the puck through the side of the net. Either way, it didn’t seem to phase the Bruins’ goaltender, who went on to hold off all 24 shots.

Jaroslav Halak has been in excellent form of late for the Boston Bruins and this only served to boost an already impressive save percentage and goals against average. Both he and Tuukka Rask have stepped up of late; in fact, this has Halak sitting at an other-worldy 1.22 GAA and 0.962% over his last four appearances.

Even the Boston Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy said it last night, per boston.com, stating: “In my opinion, he’s a No. 1 goalie in this league. He’s proven that. He plays great for us, gives us a chance to win every night.”

It really is quite the luxury that the Boston Bruins have, with two goalies that on any given night would walk onto most teams in the league.

With a schedule that borders on ridiculous with 11 games in 19 nights, it’s really beneficial having Jaroslav Halak at the peak of his game. What’s more, he seems more than happy taking a few less starts than Tuukka Rask.

Possibly, the fact he knows that he could steal the starter’s job if Tuukka slips up makes it a comfortable spot.

Either way; against the Carolina Hurricanes, it really didn’t seem that they would find a way past. He was tuned right into the game, proving to be the MVP even as the Canes came at him hard with the game staying 0-0 through the first two frames.

For a player that has proven a bit of a journeyman, the Boston Bruins are proving to be the perfect spot for Jaroslav Halak. It’s great to see him hit game 500, even better for it to be s hut-out on the way to a now eight-game winning streak for the team.