Somewhat unexpectedly, Connor Hellebuyck already made his first start for the New Jersey Devils. After all, having been suspended by the Winnipeg Jets and missing all of training camp, the superstar goaltender has not played competitive hockey since April.
Expectedly, though, Hellebuyck played completely as advertised, earning the victory against the Dallas Stars while only surrendering one goal.
It wasn't a poor goal to give up, either -- it came on a beautiful tip-in by Justin Hryckowian just mere seconds after Hellebuyck robbed Matthew Seminoff on a point-blank chance. Ultimately, the goal against was something that the Devils' netminder had absolutely no chance to save, but he was otherwise pristine. According to HockeyStats, he finished the night with a goals saved above expected (GSAx) of +0.67, a figure that signifies that he did exactly what he should have in net. He saved seven of eight high-danger shots against and was perfect on both medium- and low-danger shots, as per NaturalStatTrick.
Connor Hellebuyck watched a dominating performance
Meanwhile, in front of him, the Devils shellacked the Stars. They surrendered just 17 shots on the night and, more impressively, just 37 shot attempts (compared to 27 and 58 for New Jersey, respectively). Dominating possession resulted in five goals for -- two off the stick of captain Nico Hischier, one from Jesper Boqvist, and one from each Hughes brother. By all accounts, the Devils as a whole made life very easy for their new stud goalie, and he delivered exactly as he should have.
The reality is, if this -- the Devils getting average goaltending at worst -- continues, New Jersey should absolutely contend with the Carolina Hurricanes for tops in the Metropolitan Division. The process has been superior to every other team in the league, and as the goaltending and finishing have positively regressed to average in recent games, the Devils have all of a sudden won four straight games and find themselves in second place in their division.
Hellebuyck raises the floor of the team significantly, in that the expectation is that he provides the team with average-or-better performances on a nightly basis. Even when he isn't at his best, it'll likely be a modest underperformance rather than outright disastrous. His typical self -- which fans saw against Dallas -- is calm, cool, collected, and stabilizing. That's exactly what New Jersey needs to become a true powerhouse.
Add us as a preferred source on Google