from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

Now, will this less-is-more approach bode well for the Bruins now in the Round 1 afterlife? Here’s a bulletin: It all hinges on Jaroslav Halak. Shocker there, huh?

Pressed into No. 1 duty when Rask went rogue, Halak faced 99 shots over three games and turned back all but five, for a robust .949 save percentage and a 1.67 goals-against average. Magnificent numbers.

For a guy who hadn’t logged a real playoff game since 2015 (with Islanders), the 5-foot-11-inch Slovak stopper was immense. Had the Hurricanes been able to wring out similar from their Petr Mrazek-James Reimer tandem, this space instead would be devoted to key story lines headed into Game 6 on Thursday night.

Instead, the Hurricanes are toast, yet again, and the Bruins stand four wins from advancing to Edmonton for the Eastern Conference finals.

Halak, 35, is now 16-16 lifetime in the playoffs. His best run in the postseason was a 9-9 stint with the Canadiens 10 years ago. A decade later, no one should be expecting him to steal a series. He has to be at least OK, and everyone has to be better. He was less than average in Game 4, falling into a 2-0 deficit because he allowed a couple of softies to beat him to the glove side. Everyone else was better.

more