Connor Hellebuyck is expected to win the Vezina Trophy as the top NHL goalie for the second straight season and the third time in his career. But the Winnipeg Jets star goaltender has struggled to carry that success into the Stanley Cup Playoffs — until Friday night.
Hellebuyck was flawless in Game 2 of Winnipeg’s Western Conference Second Round series against the Dallas Stars. stopping all 21 shots he faced to help the Jets even the series with a 4-0 victory at Canada Life Centre.
The 31-year-old got plenty of help from his teammates, who gave him a 2-0 lead before the game was eight minutes old on goals by Gabriel Vilardi and Nikolaj Ehlers.
Each got a fortunate bounce; Ehlers’ shot hit the post to the right of Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger, and Vilardi tapped it into an empty net at 3:35 for a power-play goal. Ehlers’ pass from the left wall hit Stars defenseman Esa Lindell and slid past a helpless Oettinger at 7:07 to double the lead.
The way Hellebuyck was playing, a two-goal lead looked more like a five- or six-goal margin. He was terrific in the second period, denying a handful of Grade A chances among his nine saves. The best one was a glove save on Evgenii Dadonov on a shot that looked like it was ticketed for the back of the net.
Hellebuyck made five more saves in the third period to complete the fourth playoff shutout of his career and first since a 1-0 victory against the Edmonton Oilers on May 21, 2021. He has 45 regular-season shutouts.
Adam Lowry made it 3-0 at 11:02 of the second period, and Ehlers hit the empty net with 3:40 remaining in the third period.
The Stars, who won the opener 3-2 on Wednesday to steal the home-ice advantage, host Game 3 at American Airlines Center on Sunday. It will be a big test for Hellebuyck and the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Jets, who were 0-3 on the road in the first round against the St. Louis Blues. Hellebuyck was pulled in all three games.
Related: NHL playoff predictions: Picks for every 2nd-round series, 2025 Stanley Cup champion
3 takeaways from Jets’ series-tying 4-0 win against Stars in Game 2
1. Hellebuyck plays like his regular-season self
The Jets are going nowhere without Hellebuyck playing at his best. That’s why his performance in Game 2 has his teammates so excited.
“We played 50 good minutes,” Jets center Mark Scheifele told TNT. “We had a stretch in the last 10 minutes of the second period where ‘Helly’ kept us in is. He was fantastic tonight.”
Hellebuyck led the NHL in regular-season wins (47), goals-against average (2.00) and shutouts (eight), and was second in save percentage (.925). But he entered Game 2 with a 4-4 record, a 3.75 GAA and a .836 save percentage — and that was after going 1-4 with a 5.23 GAA and .870 save percentage in Winnipeg’s five-game loss to the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.
“Now it’s locked in,” Hellebuyck told Sportsnet when asked about his play. “We broke it down to build it back. I like where it’s at, and I like where the team is playing.’
A last-second save on Roope Hintz preserved the shutout and triggered chants of “M-V-P” from the sellout crowd of 15,225.
“It meant a lot to me,” he said. “I love the crowd. I love this city. Feeling that love, it’s a great feeling.”
The Jets need Hellebuyck to carry this performance into Game 3. He’s lost seven straight road playoff games since a 5-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on April 18, 2023.
Related: Panthers get OT goal from Brad Marchand to rally past Maple Leafs 5-4 in Game 3: takeaways
2. Slow starts still plaguing Stars
Dallas will have a hard time beating anyone if it continues to play from behind.
The Stars have scored just three first-period goals in their nine playoff games after coming up empty again against the Jets on Friday night — by far the fewest among the eight teams still playing. They’ve also given up the first goal in eight of their nine games this spring, which is usually a recipe for losing; teams scoring first are 34-22 in this year’s playoffs (60.7 percent) and won 862 of 1,312 regular-season games (65.7 percent).
Dallas does have 11 second-period goals, the most among the remaining teams. But chasing the game is a tough way to win a series.
3. Jets shut down Mikko Rantanen
Mikko Rantanen came into the game having scored or assisted on the Stars’ last 12 postseason goals. He’s heading home with his streak intact, but only because his team didn’t score.
Jets coach Scott Arniel put Lowry, one of the League’s top defensive centers, on Rantanen for much of the game, and it paid off. He rarely found any space to work with, and when he did, the Jets quickly closed in on him. In 7:07 of 5-on-5 time against Lowry, Rantanen was out-attempted 8-3, out-chanced 3-1 and outscored 1-0.
His best chance came early in the third period, but defenseman Neal Pionk poked the puck off his stick in the slot before he could shoot.
The Stars get the final change at home in Games 3 and 4, so it will be interesting to see if coach Peter DeBoer uses it to try to keep Rantanen away from Lowry.
More production from his teammates would help as well. Matt Duchene, who scored 30 goals and had 82 points in the regular season, hasn’t scored in the playoffs. Mikael Granlund, Jamie Benn and Dadonov have one goal each, and 35-goal scorer Jason Robertson is still showing the effects of the lower-body injury that kept him out of the first round.