After a rough start, Rangers goalie Jaroslav Halak has turned his season around
Rangers goaltender Jaroslav Halak and center Mika Zibanejad hug after an NHL game against the Panthers on Sunday, Jan. 1, 2023 in Sunrise, Fla. Credit: AP/Lynne Sladky
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Even as he was struggling through a miserable start to this season, Jaroslav Halak, the Rangers’ 37-year-old backup goaltender, knew things would get better. He just had to trust the process, believe in himself and wait for things to turn around.
“It comes around,’’ Halak said Sunday after the Rangers practiced in preparation for Monday’s game against the Florida Panthers at Madison Square Garden. “It’s hard when you don’t get to play [regularly]. You know, you play every two weeks, maybe more, and obviously, when you lose, it’s always hard to kind of, get the next game, try to get a win.’’
Halak didn’t earn his first win as a Ranger until his seventh start, but the Rangers scored only 10 goals in those seven games. Since then, things have gotten much better for him.
He has won his last four starts and hasn’t been beaten since Dec. 3 — a brutal 5-2 loss to rebuilding Chicago that left the Rangers 11-10-5 and out of a playoff spot.
Halak backstopped a 6-3 win over the Flyers in Philadelphia on Dec. 17 during the Rangers’ seven-game winning streak, and that was the beginning of a personal four-game winning streak for him. He is 5-6-1.
“He’s playing much better,’’ coach Gerard Gallant said. “He had some tough goals that he allowed early in the season. He wasn’t as sharp as he [needed to be]. Now there’s no bad goals going in and he’s playing a good, solid game. He’s exactly what we thought we were getting in the summertime [when the Rangers signed him as a free agent]. It didn’t start out real well with our team, and you know, some of those bad goals cost some games. But since then, he’s played very well. Every game he’s played, he’s made some huge saves for us.’’
With Halak getting better results, Gallant and goaltending coach Benoit Allaire can trust him enough to start him against some of the less formidable opponents. That allows Igor Shesterkin to get a breather.
Halak’s last start came on the second night of a back-to-back, but the two starts before that, against Montreal and Florida, did not.
Halak, who had a goals-against average of 3.04 and a save percentage of .888 after that Chicago loss, has improved those numbers to a respectable 2.69 and .901. He came close to posting shutouts in each of his last two starts, a 3-1 road win over Columbus last Monday and a 4-1 win in Montreal on Jan. 5. In both of those games, he allowed his only goal in the third period.
“Obviously, it would be nice to get those shutouts the last two games, but at the same time, it’s more important for us to get a win,’’ he said. “When they score, you’ve got to turn the page and kind of start over and just make the save on the next shot and the next shot.’’
Notes & quotes: Forward Jonny Brodzinski cleared waivers and was assigned to AHL Hartford, reducing the Rangers’ roster to 22 players, one below the maximum. Brodzinski, who is Hartford’s captain, had one goal and one assist in 16 games with the Rangers after his Dec. 3 recall.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
