“Obviously when you have two guys kind of fighting for opportunities and wanting to be out there with the guys, I think it definitely makes everyone better,” Elliott said. “You have to be on your edge. As soon as you get complacent, that’s when things go wrong.

“Sometimes you see one guy gets a big contract and gets to sit in the high seat ... sometimes they struggle a little bit because they don’t have that competition or that drive to win it over. So when you’ve got two guys fighting for space, it makes everybody better.”

Hitchcock maintains that the rivalry between Halak and Elliott has remained healthy.

“I don’t think you play against the other guy in the net,” Hitchcock said. “You just realize when it’s your turn, you’ve got to perform. I’ve never seen it where one guy plays well, and the other guy doesn’t play well when you’ve got a shared responsibility.

“I think that both guys get excited about not letting the team down because they see the other guy playing well, the team is winning and they just want to keep going. I don’t think they compete against each other at all — they get along.”

But don’t discount the way that Halak, still not 100 percent, has responded recently.