Here is the best thing the Islanders’ coaching staff and management can say about Jaroslav Halak, the player who is supposed to be their goaltending savior:
“He battles extremely hard.”
That was the way coach Jack Capuano put it on Thursday morning, before his team went to the Prudential Center in its second to last preseason game and lost to the Devils, 2-1 in a shootout. Halak played the whole 65 minutes, and made 21 saves on 22 shots, the game ending with the lone tally of the skills competition coming from Travis Zajac.
“It always takes a little bit, especially early in the season, to get going,” Halak said after what will be his final preseason tune-up before the regular-season opener on Oct. 10 in Carolina. “Hopefully, it’s not going to take long.”
Earlier in the week, with Halak having given up six goals on 36 shots through his first 90 minutes of the preseason, this is how general manager Garth Snow summed up the 29-year-old.
“He is obviously a goalie that has a track record of playing at a high level,” Snow told The Post. “I see a goalie who is confident, technically sound, and relies on his athleticism when needed.”
That athleticism was on display Thursday night when Halak robbed Devils’ defenseman Jon Merrill on the far post late in the first period, a save that would have been highlight material (had the game been on television).
“I wanted to get there with some piece of equipment,” Halak said. “Luckily for me, my arm was there with my stick.”
It was the kind of game-changing save the Islanders have needed for so long, and prompted Snow to trade for Halak and then give him a four-year, $18 million deal this summer. To relieve some of the pressure, Snow even signed established backup and former Bruin Chad Johnson to a two-year, $2.6 million deal.
“At the end of the day, the preseason, for a veteran like Jaro, is to get his game in order,” Snow said. “He works every day with our goalie coach, fine-tuning his game. I have all the confidence in the world he’ll be where he needs to be when we start the season.”
Capuano wanted some inside information on Halak, so he reached out to Brad Shaw, now an assistant coach with the Blues — for whom Halak played for the better part of the past four seasons. Shaw was formerly an Islanders’ assistant coach, as well as the interim head coach in 2005-06 after Steve Stirling was fired.
“You talked to other coaches that have coached him, and he comes to work every day with that attitude that you like,” Capuano said. “The drills I watch him do individually, he’s battling, and that’s what you want to see out of your goaltender.”
Capuano and Snow have denied feeling any outside pressure to succeed, even in light of the franchise’s recent sale and pending move to Brooklyn after this season. Yet if they are to be successful, they need to at least make the playoffs, and that starts with an answer in goal.
“Knowing what Garth did in the offseason with Halak and Chad, and the numbers they’ve had,” Capuano said, “it’s a good feeling as a coaching staff knowing that we have some security blankets back there.”
How secure they prove to be is still to be seen.