Jaroslav Halak haunts former team as Blues beat Habs

Hockey fans will hear the same cliché over and over when players are facing their former teams. “It’s just another game” is the statement uttered most often—when what they really mean is, “It’s just another game that I want to win more than any other this season.” Jaroslav Halak has had a rocky season thus far, but his 4-1 win for the Blues over his former team from Montreal had to be the sweetest of his 21wins this year.

Halak did what he needed to win the game, but his defense did a good job in front of him and the Canadiens looked flat for most of the game. The former Habs netminder made 27 out of 28 saves; but Montreal looked like they were feeling the emotional letdown after their emotional victory over the rival Bruins on Tuesday night. No one would blame them if their minds were elsewhere—and unfortunately for Carey Price, it looked like the team in front of him wasn’t all there.

Going into the game, the major storyline was the Price vs. Halak match-up. But the game was only a one out of 82. If we’re looking to compare the two goaltenders, that debate has been settled over the course of the season. Halak got off to a great start to the season but has battled injuries and inconsistency this year. Not surprisingly, he’s been measuring his productivity against his former partner in crime.

“I think it’s easy to say right now when you look at the season, I haven’t been playing my best all the time. Carey has been playing good. It’s easy to say (Montreal) made the right decision, but you know, I’ve still got three years on my contract. I just need to focus on this season, finish this season strong and then who knows what’s going to happen next year.”

On the flip side, Price has been an all-star and is well on his way to being a Vezina Trophy finalist for the league’s best netminder. This season, there is no debate as to which player has been the better backstop for his team. Price has been proving Pierre Gauthier made the right decision in the offseason when he chose to move playoff-hero Halak. At the time, Pierre Gauthier was comfortable with the trade:

“The decision is based on our projections and we are very comfortable with Carey Price. He’s a young man that has almost 150 games in the league even though he’s only 22-years-old. He’s got a few rounds in the playoffs, [and] he won a Calder Cup in the American League at a very young age. He brings a lot to the table. He’s young man that we think will be a good goalie in this League.”

Now that we’re 65 games into the season, it’s safe to say that he’s just as confident with his decision today as he was back in July. But for a day – even if it’s just one day – Halak has bragging rights. After the game, Halak was announced as the #1 star of the game. Of course, Carey Price was the #2 star.

The only thing that could have made it better is if Lars Eller was the 3rd star of the game.