Home debut tonight for the Jets’ Hellebuyck?

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This article was published 02/12/2015 (3573 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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A home debut may be in the cards for Connor Hellebuyck when the Winnipeg Jets face the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight at the MTS Centre (6:30 p.m., Sportsnet, TSN1290).

Judging by this morning’s game-day skate, Hellebuyck will be making his second NHL appearance. He defeated the Minnesota Wild last Friday in St. Paul, Minn.

“For all these young goaltenders that come in, when you pass the first test, you get another to get a second test and we’ll see,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said this morning.

Maurice attempted to hold back some hype about Hellebuyck earlier in the week and was as matter-of-fact about that again today.

“He’s played a game in the NHL,” the coach said. “He deserved that game based on a very good training camp and an excellent season last year. He’s gone down and played very well and he’s big and calm and the puck goes where he wants it to go off shots.

“He’s got nice rebound control. And then that’s a huge game for us, we’re not feeling very good about ourselves and we’re going into Minnesota and they’re the team we’re chasing and we had a really difficult night in Minnesota the prior time we’d played them and there’s a lot there.

“And we’re throwing his first game on.

“Other than the fact that I liked the way he played and liked the way he controlled rebounds, they only had five shots from a scoring area, what we consider a scoring area. And we’re going to see a little more tonight.”

The 11-12-2 Jets start December coming off a miserable November (4-9-1).

But there is insistence that the team has already started to play better defensively, despite falling to No. 29 in NHL goals against average (3.15).

“We lost some games in the last month so we’ve got to think about it defensively now,” said Jets forward Alex Burmistrov. “The last few games we can feel we played better defensively and have been better, more responsible in our D zone.

“We’ve just got to find ways to win games.”

Maurice has pointed repeatedly this week to the last seven games. The team is 3-4-0 in that time and has 21 goals against.

“Over our last seven games we have moved back into that top-10 region where we want to be in terms of shots (against) from scoring areas,” Maurice said. “While our kind of departure from a solid defensive game didn’t come from cheating, it came from us trying to push an offensive game I’m not saying we’re not built to play, but we’re not there yet.”

The last time the Jets and Leafs met, the Jets pulled out a 4-2 victory with a late goal by Burmistrov, who had just escaped the penalty box.

“You know, I’m one of those guys who tries to think about the game maybe the next day, then forget all about it,” Burmistrov said. “I want to get my focus free and get ready for the next game. Now I’m just thinking about tonight’s game. It doesn’t even matter what happened last game.”

The Leafs, 8-11-5, will come back with call-up Garret Sparks in goal tonight.

With James Reimer hurt and missing the last two games, Sparks made his NHL debut against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday and recorded a 3-0 shutout.

Reimer practised this morning at the MTS Centre and is likely to play tomorrow in Minnesota. The Leafs have sent Jonathan Bernier, now their third goalie, on a 10-day conditioning stint to the AHL.

Sparks, a 22-year-old from the Chicago area who was a seventh-round pick in 2011, said this morning he’s just soaking in his sudden fame.

“I just want to settle in again and play my game,” he said today. “I go out with the same mindset every game — I want to give my team a chance to win and just do my job.

“It’s been hectic, it’s been exciting, it’s been fun and it’s been more than I expected. I’m just trying to enjoy it.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca