Hellebuyck hoppin’ mad

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This article was published 26/11/2022 (1058 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

CHICAGO — It’s a controversial play that has quickly become the talk of the National Hockey League. And the man at the centre of it all — Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck — was still at a loss to understand what transpired nearly 24 hours later.

“Those refs made a mistake. They put me in danger,” Hellebuyck said Saturday afternoon following his team’s practice at the United Center. “A lot of bad things could have came from that.”

In case you missed it, Hellebuyck was bumped by Dallas forward Jamie Benn during Friday night’s game, knocking his mask clean off his face and sending him face down on the ice. Play was allowed to continue, with the Stars cycling the puck behind the net and completing a pair of passes that ended with Jason Robertson scoring the tying goal into an unoccupied net with 20 seconds left in regulation.

Winnipeg challenged for goaltender interference, which was denied when officials ruled Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey had nudged Benn into Hellebuyck. As for not whistling a stoppage when Hellebuyck was left without any protection for his exposed head, the league apparently cited rule 9.6 which claims “when a goalkeeper has lost his helmet and/or face mask and… the opposing team has control of the puck, play shall only be stopped if there is no immediate and impending scoring opportunity.”

Although they went on to win the game in overtime, the situation had Hellebuyck and his teammates fuming, and Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff on the phone with league brass both following the game and again on Saturday.

“I’m glad I didn’t have to speak last night because I know a lot more now than I did then, and I was a lot more emotional then,” Hellebuyck said of taking some time to try and collect himself.

“When a goalie’s mask is knocked off or comes off, if it’s not an immediate (goal) — and I mean like the puck’s going in, getting tapped in — the whistle needs to be blown. Just like a player who loses his helmet has to go to the bench. He’s allowed to finish the motion of the play but he has to go to the bench. The same thing should apply for a goalie.”

The fact Benn had the puck on his stick when he crashed into Hellebuyck, but didn’t even get an assist on Robertson’s goal because it was passed around so much before the shot, is quite the definition of an “immediate and impending scoring opportunity.” As was the fact a full four seconds passed.

“That play needs to be blown dead. There was not an immediate scoring chance after there. There were two passes made and a shot from the point,” said Hellebuyck. “I feel like the rule needs to change so that the war room and the refs have the opportunity to realize they made a mistake. Plain and simple, when a goalie’s mask gets knocked off, the play needs to get blown dead.”

As for the impact which left him briefly motionless on the ice, Hellebuyck said he initially feared the worst.

“The amount of force that went into my head was very scary. The feeling in my neck was very scary,” said Hellebuyck. ” I’m glad I’m OK. I’m glad I’m having a maintenance day today, but the force that went into my head is a no-brainer for me that it needs to get blown dead and looked at.”

In hindsight, would getting up immediately — assuming he could have done that — prompted a whistle before the goal? Hard to say, but Hellebuyck wasn’t about to take any chances standing in the potential line of fire.

“It was more of the shock of what I had just felt and I didn’t know if I could get up. The way the play goes, they’re expecting me to get up, go to the post and square up to a point shot?” said Hellebuyck.

“For me, that’s just way too long and no one’s going to do that with no mask on. We don’t want any goalie in this league, we don’t want that for us, we don’t want to see that anywhere in this league. So, the fact that happened last night is very eye-opening and, hopefully, we can get better and get this rule changed.”

Hellebuyck is on the NHL’s competition committee as the lone goaltender representative and said they’ve already gone down this road before.

“I hate complaining without doing something about it. We talked about it last meeting. We talked about how we need to protect the goalies’ heads. How we’re getting hit there and nothing’s being done about it,” said Hellebuyck.

“So, the refs are supposed to be looking for it. Obviously, I’ve said the refs made a mistake. It’s OK. All we need is for them to honour that mistake, or even in games when they all talk together instead of just saying, ‘OK, we made a mistake, it’s a goal,’ let the war room take care of it because that’s kind of what sometimes they do. They need to be able to get together and say, ‘OK, this is the actual way we need to call this.’ What I would like to see happen is if that puck’s not on its way into the net or in the crease with a guy finishing in the net, the play gets called. That’s immediate.”

Adam Lowry, the Jets NHLPA player rep, expects the issue to be a popular one amongst his peers in the coming days.

“I think deeming we were pushing him in and creating that is maybe grasping at straws a little bit,” said Lowry. “The four seconds? I feel like four seconds is an eternity. You can get up and down the ice in four seconds… you can get a rush and you can get a chance at the other end. Four seconds, for a player to lay on the ice without a helmet on, it’s a long time.”

The Jets will now try to turn the page and get refocused on finishing the road trip the right way when they play the Chicago Blackhawks here on Sunday night. Winnipeg opened with a 6-1 loss in Minnesota on Wednesday before the wild 5-4 overtime triumph Friday.

“We disagree with the call, it’s as simple as that. You can’t ask a goalie to get in there and make a save without his mask on. Anyways, that happens. We’ve moved on,” said Jets coach Rick Bowness.

The team could get a boost with the return of forward Morgan Barron, who shed his non-contact jersey for the first time at Saturday’s practice since undergoing wrist surgery at the beginning of the month. He’s a game-time decision. Forward David Gustafsson missed the skate due to “maintenance” and is also a game-time decision.

The Jets have had an eventful week, beginning with blowing a 3-0 lead at home to Carolina on Monday when the Hurricanes scored three goals with their netminder pulled. Morrissey then won the game in overtime. On Friday, the Stars struck twice with Jake Oettinger on the bench before Morrissey saved the day once again.

“It feels like (Dallas) got a point that maybe we feel like could have been avoided. At the same time, that’s our job. We have a two-goal lead with a couple of minutes left. I lose four straight faceoffs in the D-zone. If we get those ones out, we’re not talking about this today,” said Lowry.

“There’s other things too that you can kind of learn from this. You hope that one point is not the difference (in the standings at the end of the year), but it’s our job now to make up that difference, to find games where we might not have it but find a way to get an extra point.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg