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Crease to Crease: Jaroslav Halak vs Carey Price (Game 42)

Steve Farnham

By Steve Farnham, AllHabs.net

MONTREAL, QC. — Look who’s back! Jaroslav Halak is back, that’s who! For the first time since he was traded out of Montreal to the St. Louis Blues, he is back to face his former team and of course, Carey Price.

We all know the story with Halak, he lead the team to the Eastern Conference finals in 2009, divided the city like Moses parted the red sea, and was eventually traded to St. Louis for Lars Eller and some guy called Ian Schultz who you will never see play at the NHL level. It’s okay though, we like Lars, and of course, Carey.

In the only matchup between both teams since the trade, Halak and the Blues had beat the Canadiens, last season in St. Louis, a game that the Blues had won by the score of 4-to-1.

Price and the Canadiens on the other hand will be attempting to extend their winning steak to three games, one short of their longest this season, coming off of victories at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets and Tampa Bay Lightning.

With a difficult month ahead of them, Brian Gionta who was back last Saturday from a foot injury causing him to miss eleven games, weighed in on the Habs early 2012 start. “It’s a good start to the year for us, this January we knew was going to be a big swing month for us and that’s the way we wanted to start.”

Indeed, January is huge for the Habs with games against teams like the Boston Bruins, New York Rangers, Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, to mention a few.

Here are a few stat bullets for this game:

Game:
Canadiens:
Blues:

For this matchup, the Habs will have Carey Price in the net, while his opponent will be of course be Jaroslav Halak for the Blues. Here is your goalie matchup:

 
Carey Price #31 Jaroslav Halak #41
Career Against the Blues:
  • Career Appearances: 3
  • Record: 1-1-1
  • GAA: 2.87
  • Sv%: 0.888%
  • Shutouts: 0

Season Totals:

  • Record: 15-14-7
  • GAA: 2.45
  • Sv%: 0.913%
  • Shutouts: 2
 Career Against the Canadiens:
  • Career Appearances: 1
  • Record: 1-0-0
  • GAA: 1.00
  • Sv%: 0.964%
  • Shutouts: 0

Season – Total:

  • Record: 9-7-5
  • GAA: 2.29
  • Sv%: 0.911%
  • Shutouts: 1

Here are some additional stats:

Carey Price: Jaroslav Halak:
Season Totals at Bell Centre:
  • Record: 7-6-6
  • GAA: 2.54
  • Sv%: 0.902%
  • Shutouts: 2
 Career Totals at Bell Centre (as a Canadien):
  • Record: 33-12-3
  • GAA: 2.35
  • Sv%: 0.922%
  • Shutouts: 7
Other Odd Stats:
  • Career Tuesday:
    • Record: 27-16-6, GAA: 2.22,
      Sv%: 0.930%, SO: 5
  • Career January:
    • Record: 9-9-5, GAA: 2.98,
      Sv%: 0.902%, SO: 0
 Other Odd Stats:
  • Career Tuesday:
    • Record: 17-10-3, GAA: 1.95,
      Sv%: 0.934%, SO: 4
  • Career January:
    • Record: 13-11-3, GAA: 2.92,
      Sv%: 0.906%, SO: 2
 ~~~~~

So just what kind of a season has Halak been having? His own words pretty much summarized the situation when he said he had a first six or seven rough games, but since then has looked good. So why only 21 starts this season? Brian Elliott, that’s the reason.

Halak’s counterpart, Brian Elliott is having a career season so far with a record of 15-5-0, a GAA of 1.62, Sv% of 0.940% and 5 shutouts.

Halak has been doing better lately however, giving up only eight goals in his last five games. His road record however is nothing to boast about, as he has only one win this season away from home, with eight losses on the road, three of which came in overtime or shootout.

Emotions will be high however, and the added motivation of playing against his former team should be all he needs to have his mind in the right place for this game.

This brings me to an interesting question that was asked to me earlier today on twitter:

[blackbirdpie url=”https://twitter.com/#!/HabsGal78/status/156484463314993154″]

The question comes from the fact that Brian Elliott, who is coming off of a 4 to 0 victory at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche, will be sitting out in the place of Halak for the game against the Habs. The question was very interesting because I’ve argued over both in the past, being that:

  1. A goaltender should always play in the game following a shutout:
    Even if the next game happens to be the following night, I believe a goaltender should always be given the chance to extend their shutout streak in the immediate following game. Shutouts are great confidence boosters and a goaltender should be permitted to “ride the wave” for as long as it may last.
  2. A goaltender (or any player) should always have the chance to play against his former team, in the first game that they play against each other, in the the previous city the player was playing in:
    You played for that team, you lived in that city, and now you have a chance to go back and “stick it to them”? Of course you should be playing against your former team. If you can’t get motivated for this type of game, there’s no hope for you.
What happens when both apply?
This is my own personal opinion on the matter and you might disagree with part or all of it, but I believe that in this example, Halak should play, and the fact that since he’s been in St. Louis, this is the first game they play in Montreal is the deciding factor.
Halak wants this game like none other. He’s had this date circled for a very long time on his calendar, and he can’t wait to step back on the ice of the Bell Centre, where he won the hearts of so many fans.
If he can control the added rush and adrenaline flowing through him in anticipation of this game, he runs a chance of truly dominating this game and making it very difficult on the Montreal Canadiens’ forwards.

“This is once-in-a-lifetime,” coach Ken Hitchcock said. “Ideal situation, you want to support the shutout, but I mean, come on. First time going back. In fairness to Jaroslav, he had a heck of a time there, and I think it would be dismissive of me to not recognize that.”

You can be a fan of Carey Price, and you can believe the Canadiens were right to choose Carey Price over Halak (they were), all while still appreciating what Halak did while he was in Montreal, and wishing him all the best elsewhere in his career.
Halak will be cheered, he will be applauded, and Halak’s name will be chanted before the puck drop Tuesday night, you can count on it. This is no disrespect to Carey Price and the Canadiens, simply appreciation for an ex-player, who found a way to win the hearts of many.
Welcome back Jaro.
Bodog:

Finally, Bodog has the Blues listed as favorite to win the game by a slight margin:

Money Line:

Over/Under:
  • 5

~~~~~

If you haven’t met our resident mascot, Puck the Bunny, who also predicts the outcome of hockey games, I invite you to check out his videos as he predicts the outcome of every hockey game. His videos are posted regularly at AllHabs and are also available at the AllHabs YouTube page. [Click Here for AllHabs YouTube Site]

(Photo AP)

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