After a month that began with him scoring a hat trick in his home country of Finland, Patrik Laine closed out November scoring 18 goals, adding one assist, and taking home the NHL’s first star of the month in the process.
He also nabbed the league lead in goals, with 21 thus far, scoring his one-hundredth career goal in a 6–5 victory over the Blackhawks. He also took home first star of the week honours on November 26, scoring 11 goals, including two hat tricks and a five-goal game against the St Louis Blues, where his five goals on five shots made him the first player to do so since Wayne Gretzky accomplished it in 1984.
It was a good month if you’re a fan of any of the Jets superstar forwards, as Laine, Scheifele, and Wheeler each earned star of the week honours. Laine has reasserted himself as a dominant sniper, and now, two months into the season, the Jets look exactly how we thought they’d look.
Currently third in the Central Division, they sit three points back of the Predators and Avalanche who are tied with 37 points apiece. At 16–8–2, the Jets are a scoring machine, with a lethal power play featuring some of the league’s better stars. That’s good enough for the second-best unit in the league at 29.1 percent.
There have been a few surprises along the way. Kyle Connor is quickly becoming the line-driving winger he showed he could be in university. Despite being held pointless through his last four games, Connor was a dominant force in overtime both against the Devils and the Rangers, showing flashes of just how good he can be. Since being taken off the top line, Connor has thrived as a creator alongside Laine and Little on the second line.
Another Jet outplaying himself has been goaltender Laurent Brossoit. Heading into the season, I ripped the Jets for grabbing Brossoit, claiming he was a subpar backup with slim potential of becoming anything more. That hasn’t been the case thus far. Seven games into his Jets career, Brossoit boasts a 93.5 save percentage with a goals-against average of 2.16.
When called upon, he’s been stellar, facing on average 32.85 shots per game.
The guy in front of him, however, hasn’t been playing his best. Connor Hellebuyck posted a save percentage of just 90.0 percent, with a goals-against average of 3.18 in November, which are the worst monthly numbers he’s had since March 2017. It’s been difficult getting back on track for Hellebuyck. To put things in perspective, at this time last year, Hellebuyck was 13–2–2, with a 2.31 goals-against average and a 93.2 save percentage.
So what’s wrong with Helly? Third periods seem to be a particular issue for Hellebuyck this season. In periods one and two, he’s held a save percentage of 92.7, whereas in the third period he has a save percentage of 86.2. This is very concerning considering how crucial it is for your goalie to be at his best at crunch time.
Evidence of this isn’t too hard to find. On November 27, Hellebuyck allowed two goals on five shots and the Jets eventually fell to the Penguins 4–3. Hellebuyck took full responsibility for the loss after the game, saying, “That one’s on me tonight.” It’s unknown what’s causing these third period struggles. Is it a mental issue? Can he not get in the right mindset? Positionally and physically, he looks fine… but he’s just getting beat too easily.
If the Jets want to be the elite contenders they were last year, they’re going to need Hellebuyck to tighten up and find his game. And who knows? Maybe after tasting playoff hockey for the first time last season, he’s had trouble getting engaged and finding that same level of intensity.
As I said with Laine after his slow start to the year, I don’t expect Hellebuyck to keep playing this way. We’ve seen how good he can be, and seen glimpses that he can be the goaltender that the Jets signed to a six-year $37 million deal this offseason. At 11–7–1, as long as he keeps winning, there’s no reason to think he couldn’t find the confidence that made him the runner-up for the Vezina last season.
As the holiday season roles around, there’s plenty of reasons to be a stress-free Jets fan nowadays. However, due to Patrik Laine’s upcoming restricted free agency, we here at The Citizen need everyone to write letters to Santa, asking for eight years at a reasonable annual rate of around $9.5 million dollars.