Vancouver Canucks goaltender @Jaroslav Halak took over for @Thatcher Demko in the final 20 minutes of Saturday&#8217;s 5–2 loss to the Calgary Flames.

However, by the looks of it, playing the third period of the Calgary game may not have been Halak&#8217;s first choice.
As dissected by the Hockey Night in Canada panel on Saturday evening, Halak appeared frustrated on the Canucks bench after head coach Bruce Boudreau apparently informed him of the goaltending change at the beginning of the second intermission.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Here is the video HNIC showed after the game of Halak being told by Boudreau he was going in for the third. Unfortunately I missed Bieksa&#39;s commentary at the end. Again super tough look from Halak. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Canucks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Canucks</a> <a href="https://t.co/BmoycwzEuI">pic.twitter.com/BmoycwzEuI</a>
&mdash; Ryan Henderson (@RJHenderson7) <a href="https://twitter.com/RJHenderson7/status/1505411044990066690?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2022</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;I would bet that [Halak] thinks that he&#8217;s playing tomorrow against Buffalo, and he hasn&#8217;t played in a long time,&#8221; Sportsnet analyst Elliotte Friedman said during the telecast. &#8220;He&#8217;s probably thinking, &#8216;well, if I&#8217;m going in for the third period, I&#8217;m not playing against Buffalo tomorrow.'&#8221;
Last summer, the Canucks signed Halak to a one-year deal carrying a $1.5 million cap hit plus up to $1.5 million in performance bonuses ($1.25 million of which he has already earned).
Halak, 36, stopped 14 of 15 Calgary shots during the third period. The Slovak goaltender has a 2–6–2 record and an .886 save percentage in 13 appearances with the Canucks this season, with his last start coming back on Feb. 28 against New Jersey (when he was pulled after allowing six goals on 14 shots in the first 26 minutes of the game).
Following the game, Boudreau <a href="https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/1505413735027929088/video/1">answered two questions</a> about his decision to replace Demko with Halak for the third period:
<blockquote>Q: Can you walk us through the decision to go with Halak for the start of the third?
BB: Pretty simple. I wanted to save Demmer, the poor bugger&#8217;s in there and facing breakaways after breakaways, and he didn&#8217;t deserve — he doesn&#8217;t deserve that, he&#8217;s been too good for us.
Q: And it seemed, we saw some clips that showed Halak not looking very excited to go in, is that fair to say?
BB: I don&#8217;t know. You saw the clips, I didn&#8217;t.</blockquote>
Boudreau also added that he has yet to make a decision about which goaltender will start his team&#8217;s game against the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.
@Matthew Highmore and @Brock Boeser scored for Vancouver on Saturday, with @Noah Hanifin, @Matthew Tkachuk, @Rasmus Andersson, @Elias Lindholm, and @Johnny Gaudreau finding the back of the net for the visitors.
The Canucks will look to bounce back from their latest lopsided loss when they host the Sabres on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. PT.

Vancouver Canucks goaltender @Jaroslav Halak took over for @Thatcher Demko in the final 20 minutes of Saturday's 5–2 loss to the Calgary Flames.



However, by the looks of it, playing the third period of the Calgary game may not have been Halak's first choice.

As dissected by the Hockey Night in Canada panel on Saturday evening, Halak appeared frustrated on the Canucks bench after head coach Bruce Boudreau apparently informed him of the goaltending change at the beginning of the second intermission.

https://twitter.com/RJHenderson7/status/1505411044990066690

"I would bet that [Halak] thinks that he's playing tomorrow against Buffalo, and he hasn't played in a long time," Sportsnet analyst Elliotte Friedman said during the telecast. "He's probably thinking, 'well, if I'm going in for the third period, I'm not playing against Buffalo tomorrow.'"

Last summer, the Canucks signed Halak to a one-year deal carrying a $1.5 million cap hit plus up to $1.5 million in performance bonuses ($1.25 million of which he has already earned).

Halak, 36, stopped 14 of 15 Calgary shots during the third period. The Slovak goaltender has a 2–6–2 record and an .886 save percentage in 13 appearances with the Canucks this season, with his last start coming back on Feb. 28 against New Jersey (when he was pulled after allowing six goals on 14 shots in the first 26 minutes of the game).

Following the game, Boudreau <a href="https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/1505413735027929088/video/1">answered two questions</a> about his decision to replace Demko with Halak for the third period:
<blockquote>Q: Can you walk us through the decision to go with Halak for the start of the third?

BB: Pretty simple. I wanted to save Demmer, the poor bugger's in there and facing breakaways after breakaways, and he didn't deserve — he doesn't deserve that, he's been too good for us.

Q: And it seemed, we saw some clips that showed Halak not looking very excited to go in, is that fair to say?

BB: I don't know. You saw the clips, I didn't.</blockquote>
Boudreau also added that he has yet to make a decision about which goaltender will start his team's game against the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday.

@Matthew Highmore and @Brock Boeser scored for Vancouver on Saturday, with @Noah Hanifin, @Matthew Tkachuk, @Rasmus Andersson, @Elias Lindholm, and @Johnny Gaudreau finding the back of the net for the visitors.

The Canucks will look to bounce back from their latest lopsided loss when they host the Sabres on Sunday at 7:00 p.m. PT.

WATCH: Halak appears upset by Boudreau’s call to put him in for third period against Flames

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