The Boston Bruins have a controversy on their hands and it seems like one guy has outperformed the other. Jaroslav Halak should start over Tuukka Rask.
Boston Bruins fans love to talk about goaltenders. People in Boston either love or hate Tuukka Rask. So far this season Rask’s haters have plenty to talk about.
Rask got off to a rough start in the season opener. He allowed 5 goals in a period and a half. Obviously not great.
As the season progressed Rask started to improve and had one of his best games of the season against the Ottawa Senators. Rask stopped 38 shots and looked amazing.
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Still, Rask has been second fiddle to Jaroslav Halak. Halak has looked like a starting goaltender, not Rask. Halak is making phenomenal saves and just continues to look great.
So I think it’s time for the Bruins to give Rask a break and see what Jaroslav Halak can really do. So here are 3 reasons the Bruins should start Jaroslav Halak over Tuukka Rask.
1. Halak is hot
Jaroslav Halak is absolutely on fire. Halak has appeared in 6 games and is 3-0-2. After the Bruins rough start against the Washington Capitals, it was imperative that the Bruins right the ship.
Halak shutout the Buffalo Sabres and gave the Bruins their first win of the season. He calmed Bruins fans nerves and let us know that everything would be ok.
Overall Halak is just playing at such a high level. I may have more confidence in him than Tuukka Rask at the moment.
It just makes sense to have Halak as your starter.
2. Jaroslav Halak keeps you in games
I think something that may not show up on stat sheets that makes Jaroslav Halak a great goaltender is that he keeps you in games. When the Boston Bruins need Halak to make a big save he doesn’t disappoint.
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Halak has looked great stopping breakaways and has made some amazing saves. We saw this in Thursday nights game.
The Bruins struggled in the first period, and couldn’t get anything going in the offensive zone. That led to some amazing opportunities for the Philadelphia Flyers.
Halak was up to the challenge and made some truly amazing saves. Without Halak’s great performance the Bruins would have probably left the arena with a loss.
Sometimes when Tuukka Rask is between the pipes and you lose confidence in the team’s ability to win. Rask makes Boston Bruins fans nervous and can allow some terrible goals.
With Jaroslav Halak in net, you believe that the team can win and that’s all you can ask of the goaltender.
3. Tuukka Rask needs a wake-up call
I don’t know why, but Tuukka Rask always seems to have poor starts to the season. We saw him struggle in the 2017-18 season and he is doing it again this season.
When you look at Rask’s stats compared to Halak he looks like a dumpster fire. Tuukka has appeared in 5 games and has a goals against average of 3.38 and a save percentage of .901.
Clearly, Rask needs some time to reflect on his performance so far this season. He needs to perform much better. Some time on the bench could probably help Rask a lot.
Rask would be forced to look himself in the mirror and become a better goaltender. This worked last season for the Bruins so I think they should try it again.
So it is time for Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy to make the change and ride the hot hand, and one of the hottest hands in the entire NHL is Jaroslav Halak.