If you showed anyone any goal the Bruins have given up this postseason and asked which goalkeeper it looks like their head was not in it, the answer would not be the man who went home.
Instead, it would have been Jaroslav Halak, who probably gave up the three worst goals of a series that Petr Mrazek and James Reimer also chased.
Halak is better than this. You know it, I know it, we all know it.
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That the Bruins had better hope that their backup-to-starter play through two games has been a product of temporary rest that will eventually subside. They can make a run if Halak is very good. If he’s just OK, probably not. If he is what he was in Game 4? They will be an easy out in the second round.
It cannot be overstated how big Bruins’ third period was on Monday. Under 2-0, they scored four goals in a row in the third period, while not allowing a shot until the 18th minute. That Hurricanes shot went in, but Boston still insisted on taking a 3-1 stranger on the series.
Had the Bruins not had that period, we would have seen after a tie series and a Bruins team that – besides they could not put the puck for bad goaltenders – had an issue in the net.
Instead, the Bruins have three games to polish Carolina and prepare for (probably) the Lightning. There’s no big pressure on her to run David Pastrnak back in the lineup, but getting a strong performance from Halak would certainly save everyone more easily.
Halak was fine in Game 3, which was also just his second game since returning. Between the free time and the fact that he allowed only one goal – a terrible giveaway on his part – his actual playing was hardly a story. The header was that he filled in at the last minute and got the win.
Game 4 apparently stood out. Big goals allow three goals all the time, but context is key to these achievements.
Carolina’s first two goals came from simply throwing pucks at the side of the net glove from the top of the circle and Halak missed them. If the circumstances were different and there was a veteran backup at the ready (it’s AHL junior Dan Vladar), a bullpen call would have guaranteed after Jordan Martinook’s second period.
Then the Bruins managed to figure out how to limit the damage: They just did not let Carolina shoot in the third. They dominated, scored and kept the puck the hell away from their own end, as the Hurricanes did not manage a single shot at Halak until they pulled their goalkeeper. When that first shot at 18:33 fell under Halak’s path with 1:27 left, the game somehow felt like it could still slip.
The Bruins, however, held Carolina to just one shot, and held on. Now they can look forward to Game 5 and honestly Halak should feel he has a new lease on life. He can see Monday as a case that he did not have his A-game (or D + game) because he continued to acclimatize, but still pulled out a victory. The clunker can be behind him and he can continue at the expense of the team.
The Bruins should see it that way too. Maybe that’s optimistic, but Halak’s two years in Boston have shown that he’s far more capable than we’ve seen so far in the playoffs.
The Bruins are not a team that wins despite their goaltender. They have spent too much money on the position and have had too good a hand from netminders for that to be the case. And truly, despite their regular season finish, they are not good enough to win without goal-scoring in the playoffs. They need Halak to be good. That could begin Wednesday.
