Stars need offence to step up to stop surging Hellebuyck from finding A-game
If Connor Hellebuyck is truly finding his A-game, it seems impossible for the Stars to win the series unless their frozen attack thaws and others besides Mikko Rantanen get hot.
DALLAS — One way or another, Connor Hellebuyck is going to be the story for the Winnipeg Jets when their playoff series ends against the Dallas Stars.
Hellebuyck will play and look something close to the best goalie in the National Hockey League, which he certainly is during the regular season, or the lost soul who incomprehensibly ranks 21st in save percentage (.869) among 21 goalkeepers who have appeared in at least two playoff rounds over this season and the previous two.
The Jets managed to survive the St. Louis Blues in their thrilling first-round series despite Hellebuyck’s ghastly .830 save rate.
But they won Game 7 last Sunday when Hellebuyck stopped 24 of the final 25 shots he faced after the Blues scored twice in their first four attempts.
As the Jets split the first two games of Round 2 in Winnipeg, their Vezina Trophy-winning, Hart Trophy-finalist goalie stopped 42 of 45 shots, and in a 4-0 win in Game 2 on Friday had his best performance so far.
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“There were stretches in the first round where I really liked my game, just wasn’t in the results,” Hellebuyck told reporters after Friday’s win. “But (we have) built it back better. I like where we’re at. The team in front of me is playing phenomenal, so we’re going to have fun.
“It helps because we’re playing our game and we know what it looks like and we know what it feels like. That being said, we’ve got to wipe it (clean) and go play a hard road game. It’s never easy on the road, especially at playoff time.”
The Jets and Hellebuyck are still looking for their first road win of the Stanley Cup tournament.
Hellebuyck appears to be trending positively.
We’ll know more in Game 3 Sunday afternoon in Dallas because the 31-year-old American was close to unplayable on the road against the Blues.
The Stars appear to be trending, too — and not in a good way.
A team whose deep talent was reflected by deep, even scoring during the regular season, Dallas has relied largely on Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz and Wyatt Johnson for most of their playoff offence and almost entirely on Rantanen the last three games.
Rantanen’s eight goals in nine playoff games are one more than Dallas’ bottom nine forwards have combined to contribute.
After leading the Stars with 30 goals and 82 points in the regular season, Matt Duchene hasn’t scored in the playoffs and none of his four assists has been at even strength. Jamie Benn also has no even-strength points, while key secondary scorers Mikael Granlund, Mason Marchment and Evgenii Dadonov are all stuck at one goal.
Among Dallas forwards, only Rantanen (8-7-15 pts), Hintz (4-4-8) and Johnston (3-4-7), who is minus-11, are scoring.
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“I would argue, you know, one guy has scored for us lately,” Stars coach Peter DeBoer said during an airport media availability here Saturday afternoon. “You’re being kind (naming three). No, we need guys to get on the board. But you also have to understand where Winnipeg is the best defensive team in the league. We went into (road games against) a team that also has, I think, the first or second-best home record in the league. Tough environment. It’s not going to be easy. And you know what? We might not get guys lighting it up this series.
“We might have to win 1-0, 2-1. Listen, sure it’d be great if everyone was scoring (but) it’s more important that we’re winning games. And if that’s 1-0 and Rantanen is scoring every night, that goal, then we’ll take it. But you know, I do think there’s some other guys, whether we win 2-1 or 1-0, some other guys have to find a way to take a little bit of that load off him.”
If Hellebuyck truly is finding his A-game — home and away — it seems impossible for the Stars to win the series unless their frozen attack thaws and others besides Rantanen get hot.
They have outshot their opponents only once in the playoffs.
It helps Dallas that its leading regular-season goal scorer, Jason Robertson, looked better in Game 2 than he did in Game 1 after missing the opening round due to injury. It could help immensely if No. 1 defenceman Miro Heiskanen, out since January due to a knee injury, returns this series.
He is close, but DeBoer said Heiskanen won’t play in Game 3.
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The Jets got their ace blue-liner, Josh Morrissey, back from injury on Friday.
Winnipeg did not hold a media availability during its travel day to Dallas on Saturday.
“I mean, he’s their Miro Heiskanen, you know,” DeBoer said. “That changes things. It slots people for them. It’s a big boost of confidence for their whole group. But, you know, this is part of it.
“We’ve played without Miro now for over three months, 3 1/2 months. We’re still scratching and clawing and finding ways to hang in there. When he comes back, it’s going to be, you know, obviously a good day. But even then. . . he’s been out for 3 1/2 months. He’s going to help immediately, but we’re going to have to temper our expectations, too, on exactly what he’s going to bring after that long an absence.”
The last time the Stars lost 4-0, in Game 4 of their seven-game win against the Colorado Avalanche in Round 1, they rebounded and thrashed Nathan MacKinnon’s team 6-2 in Game 5.
“We’ve got to respond,” DeBoer said. “You know, we’ve been a really good response team in my time here. We’re at home. We know how well we play at home and the advantage our fans give us here. We’ve got to come out tomorrow on a quick turnaround — the quickest turnaround of the playoffs so far with an afternoon game.
“There was some good stuff in that game last night that we can take. It wasn’t all bad. I don’t think the score was necessarily reflective of the entire game. So we’ve got to keep that. And we’ve got to fix some things, obviously, too.”
They’ve got to stop Hellebuyck from finding himself.
