Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck was pulled from a second consecutive postseason game for the first time in his career on Sunday, after giving up five goals to the St. Louis Blues in a 5-1 rout.
St. Louis’ victory tied this Western Conference first-round series at 2-2, with Game 5 Wednesday in Winnipeg.
Hellebuyck was also yanked from Thursday’s 7-2 loss after allowing six goals on 25 shots. Posting 11 goals-against in two crucial playoff road games is mostly the opposite of what Hellebuyck was able to do at home, letting in just four goals total while helping Winnipeg to a 2-0 series lead over St. Louis.
Now, the NHL’s Presidents’ Trophy winners, who topped the league’s regular-season standings with a 116-point campaign — are in a best-of-three fight against the plucky, eighth-seeded Blues. And Hellebuyck’s implosion over their last two games is a significant reason why Winnipeg is feeling the heat.
Jets coach Scott Arniel tried not to fan the flames in his postgame media availability on Sunday as he put his full weight behind Hellebuyck moving forward.
“I’m 100% confident in Connor Hellebuyck,” Arniel. “His resume speaks for itself. At the end of the day, we need to be better in front of him. We need to let him see some pucks. There are things we have to do to help him. And there’s things he has to do to help us.”
Hellebuyck — like the Jets themselves — had a sensational regular season that’s made him the odds-on favorite to win a third Veziina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender and put him in the running as a Hart Trophy finalist for league MVP honors. He recorded a league-high 47 wins guarding the Jets’ cage, to go with a .925 SV% and 2.00 GAA.
One glaring issue for Hellebuyck in the postseason is how St. Louis is screening pucks while the Jets’ defense isn’t boxing out enough in front of the net to let Hellebuyck see incoming shots. Winnipeg also hasn’t given Hellebuyck much offensive support either — the Jets are averaging the fourth-fewest goals among playoff teams (2.50 per game) through a notable lack of secondary scoring.
But the veteran goaltender has been in his own worst enemy, too. In Thursday’s loss, it was Hellebuyck’s giveaway behind the net to Pavel Buchnevich that delivered the Blues’ forward his hat trick score. In Sunday’s game, Hellebuyck’s attempt to fight off Brayden Schenn with the paddle of his stick backfired and left Hellebuyck too far removed from the play to stop Schenn scoring St. Louis’ third goal.
The Blues’ home crowd, at least, loved to see it. When Hellebuyck was replaced by backup Eric Comrie, fans rained down chants of “We want Connor” and the building’s organist even briefly joined in with accompaniment.
Now that the series is shifting back to Winnipeg, the Blues plan to take what worked on Hellebuyck in their rink and apply it to the Jets’ home ice.
“It’s playoffs, you have to win the net-front battle,” Schenn said. “You have to go to the net. They’re not always pretty. But get pucks to people, traffic to the net and shoot. Hopefully, good things happen.”
For Hellebuyck, Wednesday’s Game 5 is a chance to start re-writing his own history. This is another year where Hellebuyck’s regular season dominance hasn’t translated to postseason success. Last year he was just 1-4 in the playoffs with an .870 SV% and 5.23 GAA. In his career, Hellebuyck is 20-29-0 in the postseason, and hasn’t recorded a cumulative save percentage over .900 in any stretch since 2021-21.
Winnipeg will be counting on Hellebuyck to turn the tide before this postseason opportunity slips away.
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