Don’t blame Hellebuyck for Jets’ defensive woes

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This article was published 27/04/2021 (1596 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

You know things aren’t going well with the Winnipeg Jets when goaltender Connor Hellebuyck, of all people, is under the microscope for his play.

Hellebuyck, who is widely considered to be among the best puck stoppers in the entire world, has been anything but otherworldly in his last four starts. He joins the rest of his Jets teammates in what’s been an inconsistent couple of weeks.

The only difference is when Hellebuyck doesn’t play really well — and he often plays really well — then the Jets rarely win. When he plays bad, they always lose.

Hellebuyck has gone without a victory in his last four starts, and in two of those games he was pulled from the net and replaced by backup Laurent Brossoit. He has a combined .833 save percentage over that stretch.

While some of the goals have been suspect, more have been the result of botched assignments in the defensive zone defence and turnovers in the neutral zone. So when you ask Hellebuyck’s teammates whether there should be a concern, they’re quick to come to his defence.

“It’s certainly a team defensive game. That’s why the saying is hockey is generally you never blame the goalie,” Jets defenceman Neal Pionk said. “The puck has to go by five guys to get to him, then you go from there. It’s certainly a five-man unit out there.”

“It’s certainly a team defensive game. That’s why the saying is hockey is generally you never blame the goalie. The puck has to go by five guys to get to him, then you go from there. It’s certainly a five-man unit out there.”
– Jets defenceman Neal Pionk on goalie Connor Hellebuyck

While his recent play has created some cause for concern, at least outside the Jets dressing room, Hellebuyck, albeit not up to his own personal standards, still has decent numbers to show for this year. He is boasting a 2.70 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage.

Hellebuyck has never been one to criticize his game, at least not publicly, and he’s always been quick to rebound from a loss. It was rare to see him earlier this week voice his displeasure over head coach Paul Maurice pulling him just 12 minutes into a loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs April 22 after being beat for three goals on six shots.

Maurice, for his part, has all the trust in the world in his goalie.

“What you’re looking at is taking (Monday’s game) and attaching it to the previous losses or any of our losses prior to it. We hung our goalie out to dry (Monday) night, that’s just a fact. When you get that many (breakaways) and odd-man breaks — and with players that they have, they’re going to finish on a whole bunch of them,” Maurice said. “So, that was an accurate assessment of what we did to our goaltender. We have a defensive challenge as a five-man group. When we meet that challenge, we have the ability to score goals and win hockey games. We’ve failed to meet that challenge in our last three for sure. I don’t know that the game we lost to Edmonton (coming off the road trip), there were two power play goals and one five-on-five goal is true of that. We got behind it in the next two with Toronto and then last night is an extreme example of a poorly played defensive game, a five-man defensive game and that is not who we are.”

Hellebuyck is expected to make his 40th start against the Edmonton Oilers Wednesday night, after allowing six goals on 23 shots through two periods Monday.

BLAME IT ON BROWN: Speaking of Monday’s 6-1 drubbing by the Oilers, Maurice was asked why no one on the team’s leadership group — captain Blake Wheeler and alternates Mark Scheifele and Josh Morrissey — were made available to face the music at what was clearly the team’s lowest moment of the year.

“That’s all Scott Brown’s fault,” Maurice said through a smile without expanding on his answer.

Brown, who is in charge of the team’s public relations crew, then issued an email to reporters on the call saying it was his decision, and that Wheeler and Scheifele had asked if they were needed before being told they weren’t. While a somewhat confusing exercise that is becoming more common, where the PR guy chooses who speaks post-game, it’s something Brown confirmed he’s “learned most teams have done throughout this unique year.”

“So it would be inaccurate to portray them as unwilling to address it,” Brown added. “Just want to be clear.”

LOWRY ON THE MEND: The Jets could really use a guy like Adam Lowry right now. But they’ll have to wait another day as the gritty centreman remains on the shelf after a high hit from Toronto’s Alex Galchenyuk.

Lowry has practised this week but on Tuesday was once again donning a yellow, non-contact jersey. Expectations are he’s close to being a full participant and will require at least one practice with psychical contact before being cleared to play.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton