Hellebuyck's special performance adds to his incredible resume

After Connor Hellebuyck's incredible 50-save performance on Monday night, helping the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-1 win over the New York Rangers, the 29-year-old was pretty honest.
"Yeah, I'm exhausted," he said with a smile. "Now I have to take care of the body and get ready to go for the next one."
The three-time NHL All-Star drew attention from around the league as he did something seen only on rare occasions in the NHL these days - start on consecutive nights.
Jets head coach Rick Bowness insisted the circumstances were perfect. Hellebuyck was rested - to a point, he didn't dress for one game last week due to illness - and was the back-up to start the road trip.

In New Jersey, he faced less than 30 shots, and without any travel going from Prudential Center one night to Madison Square Garden the next, it was - as he said - a perfect storm.
"I understand it's a long season and you have to use everyone and you want your back-up goaltender in a rhythm," said Hellebuyck. "I always feel better I the second half."
As for that attention Hellebuyck earned, here is just some of it - with the stats to back it up.

Even still, Pierre-Luc Dubois couldn't help being a little sarcastic when asked about Hellebuyck's performance, especially with the 2020 Vezina Trophy winner in the room.
"I mean, it wasn't that great," Dubois laughed. "I mean, he's right there, I don't want to talk too good about him."
But when your goaltender is tied for the league-lead in starts (43), tied for second in wins (26), and has the second most saves (1,270), even sarcasm has limits.
"He makes tough saves look easy," Dubois said. "Sometimes when you're in the stands you're looking and you say 'oh that wasn't that great of a shot,' or 'that wasn't that great of a pass,' but it was. He just reads it so well, it's just an easy save.
"He was great for us tonight. Great could be an understatement. It is an understatement."
It got this writer thinking about other memorable Hellebuyck performances. He had the 46-save effort in the overtime loss to Vegas back on October 30, and he's had nine games facing at least 40 shots, putting together a record of 7-1-1.
Here are some others from previous seasons, in no particular order:
November 2, 2019 - WPG @ SJS
What's better than 50 saves? How about 51.
That's what Hellebuyck did on November 2, 2019 at SAP Center, backstopping the Jets to a 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks.
His busiest period was the second, where he stopped 27 of 28 shots from the Sharks.

May 10, 2018 - WPG @ NSH
In terms of amount of shots, the 37 Hellebuyck faced against Nashville on that memorable spring night likely doesn't even register inside the top 10.
But making 36 saves on 37 shots in his first (and many of his teammates' first) Game 7 in the NHL? That's something special.
Hellebuyck - who went on to be named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy in the summer of 2018 - allowed only one goal against the Predators as the Jets earned a 5-1 win.
Winnipeg held a 3-1 lead going into the third, and Nashville fired 21 shots at the Winnipeg net.
Hellebuyck stopped every single one of them.

May 25, 2021 - EDM @ WPG
Like Hellebuyck's performance on Monday, this was also on a back-to-back, but this game between the Jets and Oilers went way past 60 minutes.
Winnipeg's Game 4 win over Edmonton ended with Kyle Connor's goal 6:01 into triple overtime, which pushed the Jets past the Oilers and into the second round.
Hellebuyck stopped 37 of 40 that night, making 17 of those in the overtime periods with the game on the line.