Let’s face it. Today’s NHL goaltenders aren’t exactly eager to leave their net to handle the puck often. It’s even rarer to see a goaltender come all the way out of his crease to try and break up a breakaway attempt with a poke check. It’s an incredibly risky play to make. Miss, and you’ve given up a great scoring chance.
Blues vs. Oilers: Jaroslav Halak makes awesome poke check on Ben Eager
The netminder abandoned his net to stop a breakaway attempt.
Having said all of that, it's pretty awesome when a goalie successfully makes one of those plays. Jaroslav Halak might've made one of the most amazing poke checks in recent memory on Friday when he lunged out of his net to stop a Ben Eager scoring chance.
It's seriously bizzare to see a goaltender just standing at the blueline without his stick, and the Blues are really lucky they had a defender right there to slap the puck out of harm's way at the end of that.
Either way, that was one heck of a poke check by Halak. Bravo, sir.
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