Halak looking for 30th

Jaroslav Halak's next win will bring him to a level he's never reached before -- 30 wins.

Jaro won 29 games last season, (24 for St. Louis, 0 for Buffalo-- he never got into a game for them, 5 for Washington) which was a career-high. so he has already matched that with 1/3 of a season to go.  (Technically, the Isles will reach the 2/3rd mark of their season in the 2nd intermission tonight.)

Halak is 29-11-0 in 40 games so a 40+ win season and 60 games is certainly within reach. He played 57 games in 2010-11 for St. Louis, which was a career high.

For three other Isles (DiPietro -twice, Smith, Osgood) have ever won 30 in a season -- Halak will join that club with his next W.  He could break the club record in victories by a goaltender (32) as early as next week.

As for his teammates, they will look for win #36 tonight --have not done that since 2006-07, when Dubie poke-checked them into the playoffs with a 40-30-12 record.

And get this -- the Isles won no more than 42 games in any season in the post-Cup era (did that in 2001-02).    With 8 of 10 remaining this month at home, that total could fall by month's end  The still-Stanley Cup champion Islanders won 50 regular season games in 1983-84 (and 12 more in the playoffs).

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick