Boston Bruins: Jaroslav Halak needs to be fighting fit for the back-to-back
By Luke Ryan
The Boston Bruins need Jaroslav Halak to be at full health this weekend to prevent any issues between the pipes.
On the Boston Bruins’ last set of back-to-back games, Tuukka Rask ended up pulling double-duty with less than 24 hours recovery time between games after Jaroslav Halak pulled out of the second fixture due to injury or illness.
He has since been listed as day-to-day by the Boston Bruins’ medical staff, not seeing game time in the last 10 days due to an upper-body injury.
Given that Jaroslav Halak is the best back-up goalie in the league, it’s fair to say that the Bruins can fully rely on him to deliver results, just as much as they can with regular starter, Tuukka Rask.
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Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy confirmed to NESN that Jarsolav Halak was feeling a lot better after ‘a flare-up’ and that he intended to get him out on the ice this weekend.
Neither start this weekend should be overly challenging, though the Detroit Red Wings have proven a bogey side primarily on strong goaltending at their own end, as opposed to lighting our goalie up with shots.
The New York Rangers are the side that Jaroslav Halak will most likely see the start against, provided he’s fighting fit. Perhaps his biggest worry should be Bruins trade target Chris Kreider, who has been on quite the tear lately.
However, in two games against the Rangers this year, Halak has two wins so maybe they’re a little less daunting for the veteran Slovakian goalie. Even last year, playing 3 games against them, he only conceded the 1 defeat.
In his last game for the team, Halak only conceded the one goal as the Boston Bruins secured a win over the Chicago Blackhawks; in fact, he hasn’t lost a game in his last three conceding just 4 goals in doing so.
That’s exactly the kind of form we hope he shows heading into the weekend, namely because it takes the pressure off Tuukka Rask to grab all of our wins.
With the Tampa Bay Lightning charging down the home straight, the Boston Bruins really need to ensure they come away from this weekend with an absolute minimum three points, if not all four on offer. To do so, Rask needs to be on his game, while Halak needs to be fit enough to ensure the goaltending duties are shared.
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Thankfully, both appear to be the case – Rask has impressed (for the most part) lately and Halak is reportedly ready to go. Bring on the Red Wings and Rangers!