EDMONTON, Alberta — Jaroslav Halak talks often about living in the moment, taking the NHL season day by day and enjoying every game because he never knows which will be his last one.
Maybe that always has been his philosophy. Maybe it’s a result of 17 seasons in the league. Maybe it’s a byproduct of being, at 37 years old, the third-oldest active goalie in the NHL, along with the Lightning’s Brian Elliott.
The one thing that’s for certain is that mentality has allowed Halak to turn around his first season with the Rangers. From a 1-6-1 record in his first eight games to 7-0-0 in his last seven appearances, Halak has officially settled in and has come up big for the Rangers in the process. And knowing that the Rangers’ backup is at the top of his game has made star goalie Igor Shesterkin’s rocky play as of late seem a little less daunting.
At the end of this season, Halak’s third-straight one-year deal will expire. What’s next is yet to be seen.
“Obviously, I want to finish this season,” Halak told The Post on Wednesday when asked how much longer he thinks he could play. “I’ll just probably make a decision after the season is over. I haven’t really thought about it if I’m going to keep playing or not playing.
“Of course I want to spend more time with my family, my kids, my wife [Petra]. She’s been around for a long time. She’s seen all the ups and downs and obviously, family deserves for me to be [there] for them. That’s where I want to be. Not yet.”
Halak will likely start in one of the Rangers’ upcoming back-to-back games — against the Oilers on Friday and Flames on Saturday — as he goes for an eighth straight win. The last Rangers goalie to win eight consecutive games was 1994 Stanley Cup champion Mike Richter, who went 11-0 from Dec. 6, 1996 to Jan. 4, 1997.
In 2014-15, his first season with the Islanders, Halak took over as the team’s No. 1 goalie and set a franchise record with 38 wins, including a career high 11 straight from Nov. 5-Dec. 4, 2014. The NHL named him an All-Star for the first time that season. Halak said he doesn’t focus on the numbers, just on having fun and approaching every day like it’s a new game.
“As you get older, you don’t really focus on how many games you win in a row,” he said. “I just want to help the team. I just want to keep getting the points because ultimately we have a really tough division and it’s going to be a battle to the end. Any point or two points are huge for us.”
Halak understands that hockey is a game of mistakes, so sticking to the process and trusting himself is how the Slovakian netminder mentally worked through the start to this season. Not only has Halak gone undefeated since Dec. 17, but also he has posted a .927 save percentage and a 2.14 goals-against average.
On the other hand, Shesterkin has accumulated a 9-4-3 record with a .913 save percentage and a 2.62 GAA over that same span. As solid as those numbers are, they’re not what the Rangers or the rest of the NHL have come to expect from Shesterkin, who is coming off a historic 2021-22 season in which he won the Vezina Trophy.
There’s plenty of time for Shesterkin to return to his otherworldly form before the playoffs — and the Rangers will need him to. But for now, they can feel extra confidence whenever their backup is behind them.
“I’m not really putting too much thought into anything like that,” Halak said when asked if he can feel when he’s on his game. “I’m just trying to enjoy it, trying to enjoy the guys in the locker room. We have a really good group over here. Obviously, before the season, everybody sets the goal.
“Everybody wants to win a Stanley Cup, but I think we just have to take it day by day and game by game. The ultimate goal, it’s to win, that’s why we play.”