Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Common Denominator: Price And Halak

"Teammates on the Montreal Canadians from 2007/08 to 2009/10. Opponents in the World Cup Of Hockey Finals in 2016."

That would be Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak. Halak arrived to Montreal in 2006/07, and Price came along the next year. For the next three years, they competed for the #1 job between the pipes.

Price ultimately won the battle. Halak though, left Montreal after 2010 with plenty of good memories. He got Montreal past Washington and Pittsburgh to the final four in those 2010 playoffs, where they lost to Philadelphia. Ironically, he'll be up against Pittsburgh's #87, Sidney Crosby in the finals of this year's World Cup.

And Carey Price will be in net. Carey actually got his team past the Boston Bruins in his first ever playoff action. He did that again in 2014, going all the way to the Wales Conference Finals, where they fell to New York. Internationally, he was superb in 2014 as Canada captured the gold at the Olympics in Sochi.

Halak has had his share of Olympic experience. He took Slovakia all the way to the semifinals at the Olympics in 2010, losing to Canada (And goalie Roberto Luongo). But 2014, he lost both games in Sochi.

Here, in 2016, he's up against his old pal Price. Price took home the 2015 Hart trophy as the Most Valuable Player that season. He was limited to just 10 games this past season, and is looking to prove himself as a top-notch NHL keeper. So far, so good.

Ironically, Canada beat Europe 4-1, but not with Price in goal in the Group "A" match six days ago (September 21). He stopped 42 shots, but allowing four goals was too many. Corey Crawford of Chicago was in the nets, with Braden Holtby as his backup. So Price would not have seen any action even if his team had chased Crawford from the game.

Holtby has yet to play in any games so far, and it will be Carey Price in goal tonight as the best two-of-three grand finale gets going. I'm willing to bet that Price has another ace up his sleeve. Sidney Crosby probably hasn't forgotten how good Jaroslav Halak was in that 2010 quarterfinals. He's never actually beaten him in a playoffs of any sorts (That are more than a single game elimination). He'll be raring to go. Price needs to just play up to his capabilities, and the cards shall fall in place. As for Halak, he'll need that form he showed six years ago if Europe is gonna pull this off.


References


The Goaltender Home Page - The History of Ice Hockey's Goalies and Goaltending. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2016. <http://hockeygoalies.org/>

Official Site Of The National Hockey League | NHL.com. The National Hockey League, n.d. Web. 27 Sept. 2016. <https://www.nhl.com/>

Siegel, Jonas. "Jaroslav Halak Needs Mighty Effort To Top Carey Price And Team Canada." The Globe And Mail. N.p., 27 Sept. 2016. Web. 27 Sept. 2016. The Article Appeared Originally In The Canadian Press. <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/hockey/jaroslav-halak-needs-mighty-effort-to-top-cary-price-and-team-canada/article32072286/>

Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 27 Sept. 2016.


Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Web 27 Sept. 2016. <https://en.wikipedia.org>.

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