It was a big night for Dan Vladar.
The 23-year-old netminder earned his first NHL win Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena, and he got plenty of support from one particular person.
Jaroslav Halak, who had the night off, offered some encouraging words to Vladar throughout the evening. And clearly, the young goaltender appreciated it.
"He told me that he’s got the feeling I'm going to win the game. And he just told me "Hey, you got to listen to me.' It was really nice. He was just so supportive. ... Jaro just does that really well and I think I have a lot of things I can learn from him not just on the ice, but off the ice too."
Halak wasn't alone in offering his support, either. Boston's bench as a whole offered the youngster support during Tuesday's game.
"The whole bench, I just felt so much energy from them," Vladar said. "I obviously was a little bit nervous because when you get a first start like this you just want to show your best, you don’t want to waste your opportunity to show what you can do. Obviously, I knew how I can play but at the same time not every day can be your best day so I just try to do my best to give us a chance to win."
And when they were on the bench, the conversation turned to something other than the game itself.
"We just talking about random stuff he told me 'Hey, 12 minutes left and then we’ll have some fun on the flight (to Buffalo)," Vladar said.
