Hellebuyck Stays Perfect With His New Club

After a strange week of controversy, Connor Hellebuyck returned to the crease at Prudential Center and ran his winning streak since arriving in New Jersey with a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals.

Hellebuyck is now 6-0-0 with the win, and in a week where a lot was made over the game he didn’t start in Winnipeg, he looked solid in facing the Caps.

The goaltender made 26 saves, and now has a 1.97 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage, both good for Top 8 league-wide.

The decision announced on social media by Devils General Manager Sunny Metha that Hellebuyck wouldn’t start in the Devils’ lone visit to Manitoba this year started a firestorm north of the border, and was prominently featured on SportsCentre.

Metha’s gamble was that it would deflect attention from Hellebuyck, but it came under a lot of criticism. If coach Sheldon Keefe had just said it was part of a goaltending rotation with Jake Allen, while there would have been criticism, it would not have been to the degree it reached.

Metha looked like he was micromanaging, as it is highly unusual for a GM to post a game-day lineup decision on social media. Keefe looked like he was upstaged by the decision, with the lineup card taken out of his hand.

And Hellebuyck, who certainly has gone under the microscope for his play in the Stanley Cup playoffs despite the gold-medal win for USA Hockey, will almost certainly not live this down until spring since fans will wonder how much he wanted this.

Winnipeg fans – already known for their merciless chants at home games – jumped on the chance to taunt their former goaltender, even appearing as a backup. And the post that Allen gave the Devils a better chance to win

For a Devils team with loads of talent but an uneven effort level, while Hellebucyk has done everything New Jersey could want so far, it definitely seemed an unnecessary distraction.

But, once back on the ice, Hellebuyck was solid, making some nice saves on Washington to move the Devils to 11-7-0 and win their 7th straight on home ice.

Sometimes with all the noise around you, the easiest thing is to get back in the game and control what you can. And while the unforced error this week surrounding him all week, he fit right in once back in the Devils’ crease.