His numbers are not as strong this season; he is 5-9-4 with a 3.33 GAA and .884 save percentage. Still, he was named to Team Slovakia on Jan. 8.
“I know I can play good hockey and it’s really tough if you are not drafted and someone needs to give you that opportunity,” Hlavaj said. “It’s tough to get to the NHL.”
He looked like an NHL goalie Wednesday, shutting down a team that features elite scorers like Mikko Rantanen of the Dallas Stars and Sebastian Aho of the Carolina Hurricanes.
“He just played well,” Rantanen said. “He had a really good game. He was there when they needed him. He made some big saves.”
But it wasn’t easy.
“I think this was the toughest and the best game of my life so far,” Hlavaj said. “It was awesome. When you have Finnish teams strong like this and you can play against them, and then you can play against NHL players, it means a lot for me as well.”
Asked why he always seems to play well when representing Slovakia, Hlavaj said, “I love my country, I love playing for this team and I’m enjoying every moment.”
Slovakia, which earned its first win at the Olympics with NHL players since a 4-3 quarterfinal victory against Team Sweden at the 2010 Vancouver Games, will look to do it again when it plays Team Italy on Friday (6:10 a.m. ET; Peacock, ICI Télé, CBC Gem, SN).
“I don’t know if he can do that every night, but if he’s going to do it like that, we have a chance to win a game every day,” defenseman Simon Nemec said. “I think he’s had a pretty good season. We know him, he’s great, he showed that on a couple of World Championships, we knew that he could do that.”
It was big boost for Team Slovakia and the Wild.
“They (the Wild) probably do a good job with goalies,” Hlavaj joked.
