The playoff demons are back for Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck
Despite a couple of promising starts, the whispers of doubt are starting to creep back toward one of the NHL’s best goaltenders.
Things were feeling suitable for the Winnipeg Jets. Despite the St. Louis Blues keeping things close, the President’s Trophy winners were able to grab wins in the first two games on home ice. Unfortunately, all of the concerns many had for this team came rushing back on Thursday night in St. Louis, when the Blues lit up Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck.
Pavel Buchnevich scored a hat trick against the odds-on favorite for the Vezina Trophy, finding the back of the net twice just over three minutes into the game. The dam burst open as the Blues potted six goals on 25 shots against Hellebuyck, leading to a 7-2 win for the home team and cutting the Jets’ lead to 2-1.
Hellebuyck had been coming off a great effort in Game 2, having been beaten just once on 22 shots. Yet, along with an inauspicious start in the series opener, the demons of past playoff failures are back for the Michigan native.
On Friday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli voices his concern for Hellebuyck’s woes early in this series.
Frank Seravalli: I definitely have some real question marks about Connor Hellebuyck. Think about the way game one started: three goals on 10 shots. Think about last night; it was just kind of the exclamation point for Pavel Buchnevich scoring that hat trick and the way that he did it, basically picking Hellebuyck’s pocket behind the net and putting it in the empty cage. I don’t know what, if anything, you can draw from that other than to say that Connor Hellebuyck just doesn’t look like himself.
I don’t know if that’s the pressure of the moment or the failures of their last few playoffs, but this is the best goalie in the world, as a lot of people see it…I mean, the Jets are good enough to beat the Blues without Hellebuyck being a world-beater, but I don’t think they can go much further than that if he’s not playing at a level that’s commensurate to what we think he is. Like, you’re not even close to league average. So, that part is the biggest concern for me moving forward. It’s not that I don’t think that the Jets can’t beat the Blues. I just think that they need to stop beating themselves.
You can watch the full segment and entire episode…