Jaroslav Halak Pro Reads
With Jaroslav Halak
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Jaroslav Halak is coming off his first shutout with the New York Rangers to close within six wins of 300 in his NHL career, an impressive milestone that listeners of the InGoal Radio Podcast will know means a lot to the 5-foot-11 goalie from Slovakia.
Halak sat down for an extended video session in Vancouver in February, and it was no surprise a goalie who prides himself on making good reads had a lot of great insights to offer in the Pro Reads format, so to celebrate his shutout we’ll go back for a second breakdown.
THE SEQUENCE
For the second straight session, Halak is facing what starts as a rush chance against the Florida Panthers, though there is a second part to this sequence that he also breaks down.
Beginning with the first part against the rush, what can you see in the freeze frame above that might affect how you would play this initial chance for Carter Verhaeghe as he gets around the defenseman? Are you thinking shot or cut across the crease? Overlap, VH or RVH?
As the play continues, it turns into more of a 5-on-5 end-zone situation:
As the play moves up and comes off the right wall, with Halak battling for sight lines and a defenseman cutting low from the top of the left face-off circle, where are the most dangerous parts of the ice? Any thoughts on Halak’s depth with the play up near the point?
THE SAVE
Now watch the entire sequence to get a better feel for the pace of the initial attack and some of the off-puck movement once it becomes more of a settled 5-on-5 chance:
Splitting it into two parts, what factors do you think led to Halak choosing an overlap on the initial rush chance? Did you correctly identify the most dangerous passing option? What factors would have gone into Halak coming across on this knees rather than up on his skates?
THE PRO READ
Let’s hear how Halak read the attacks and why he chose those save selections:
Still ahead in this article:
Halak's word-for-word breakdown of how he read the first chance — what he saw, what he anticipated, and why he moved when he did — starts in the next paragraph.
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