Hockey Betting - Halak New Habs Hero?
Playing for
the Montreal Canadiens can be both
a dream and a nightmare. So how does
a raw rookie goaltender deal with
the pressure?
By winning
his first two games, of course.
Things looked
pretty glum for the Habs when they
lost Cristobal Huet for the remainder
of the regular season after surgery
on his hamstring. Huet followed up
last year’s surprise success
in his Montreal debut with a healthy
.918 save percentage, but with the
Habs allowing 33.2 shots on goal per
game this season (up from 30.6), that
was only good enough to lead the team
to a 19-15 record.
Things were
bound to get worse with back-up David
Aebischer between the pipes. He’s
a capable goalie with a .908 save
percentage, but that’s not good
enough on a defensively challenged
team. Montreal is 10-10 this year
with Aebischer in goal.
Enter Jaroslav
Halak. The native of Bratislava came
into the season ranked third among
Montreal’s goalie prospects,
behind Carey Price and Yann Danis.
But Halak has taken the minor leagues
by storm. He outplayed Danis to seize
the No. 1 spot for the Hamilton Bulldogs
of the American Hockey League, posting
a stellar .932 save percentage. Not
bad for someone who was picked 271st
overall in the 2003 draft.
Halak has
been given the chance to continue
that success at the NHL level, although
it hasn’t come without some
growing pains. He stopped 46 of 51
shots (.902 save percentage) in his
first two games; with his teammates
giving him support on the defensive
end, Halak was good enough to beat
both the Columbus Blue Jackets and
the Washington Capitals. The Habs
earned 2.2 units against the online
betting moneyline and snuck back into
playoff position in the Eastern Conference
at 31-25-6 (28-34 versus the spread).
Halak’s
transition from the minors to the
pros has been eased somewhat by the
presence of some familiar faces from
Hamilton. The Canadiens have been
so riddled with injuries this year
that right winger Duncan Milroy and
center Maxim Lapierre have been called
up from the Bulldogs. They’ll
be around for a while, too. Alex Kovalev
is out for the next couple of weeks
with an elbow problem, while Steve
Begin has gone right back to the infirmary
after breaking his foot against the
Blue Jackets.
Milroy believes
Halak has the mental fortitude to
handle the pressure cooker of playing
in hockey-mad Montreal. “He’s
a very calm goalie and he doesn’t
get intimidated out there,”
Milroy told reporters after the Columbus
win. “Which helps a lot, especially
when you’re thrown into a situation
like he is now.” That’s
sweet, sweet music to the ears of
handicappers and those of us who bet
on sports – an unknown goaltender
playing above expectations is a rare
thing. For that to continue, Halak
will need all the sanity he can muster.
Some better
news on the injury front wouldn’t
hurt, either. The Habs finally got
some of that when they learned that
Chris Higgins wasn’t badly hurt
when he suffered an “upper-body
injury” against the Capitals,
in a game where he scored a pair of
goals to up his season total to 16.
Higgins has already missed 18 games
this year with a sprained ankle. He
might not miss any more; at the time
of publication, it was believed Higgins
would be able to dress on Thursday
night against the potent Nashville
Predators. Coach Guy Carbonneau announced
on Wednesday that Halak would start
in goal.
(**Ed. Note:
Higgins did not play in Nashville
last night, but Halek did, and he
remains unbeaten in the NHL. He won
his third straight stopping 26 of
31 shots to give his team the chance
to pull off the 6-5 OT (SO) road victory.**)
This is the
beginning of a potential make-or-break
trip for the Habs. Seven of their
next eight games are on the road,
and five of those games are versus
Eastern opponents who are within five
points of the Habs in the standings.
There are
plenty more “four-pointers”
to round out the regular season, but
many of those will take place at the
Bell Center in downtown Montreal,
and very few of the remaining games
on the schedule are against elite
opponents.
If Halak can
run the gauntlet, he’ll be crowned
a hero in La Belle Province –
and Habs sports betting backers will
have plenty of extra money to show
for it.
Score big
with online sports betting in the
BetUS.com Sportsbook; where you'll
find NHL odds and lines for every
hockey game of the year. If you like
to bet on NHL hockey, you'll love
the NHL player and game props in our
online sportsbook. Join BetUS.com
today!
For all NHL
odds, visit Betus.com
Posted on 2/23/2007
2:18:52 PM
Hockey Betting - Halak New Habs Hero?
By BetUS Staff
BetUS.com
is a leading online sports betting
and sports wagering entertainment
website, providing a safe and
secure place for online gambling
for more than 13 years now. BetUS.com
is recognized as one of the oldest
and most respected online entertainment
companies, offering the level
of experience and industry expertise
expected of a world-class sportsbook.
|
