Boston Bruins: How will the Bruins get past Connor Hellebuyck?

The Boston Bruins face the Winnipeg Jets as they return from the All-Star break; to win this game, they’ll have to solve the Jets’ All-Star goalie Connor Hellebuyck.

For the Boston Bruins, Connor Hellebuyck should be solvable; in his last three games prior to attending the All-Star Weekend, he was pulled once and conceded 13 goals as the Jets went down in all three encounters.

His last win, in fact, came back on January 14th when he shut-out all 41 shots against the Vancouver Canucks. That isn’t reason to discount him though; in 40 starts, he has 21 wins and 4 shut-outs prior to the All-Star break.

All this while seeing more high-danger shots than any other goalies in the league at 5-on-5, as well as just generally the most shots at 5-on-5 and doing so with the highest expected Goals Against; partly as a result of a very young defensive group in front of him.

More from Bruins News

• Bruins release Prospects Challenge roster, schedule Tuesday
• Bruins bringing back familiar forward on tryout contract
• The Bruins should take a look at these four free agents
• NHL Network lists Ullmark as sixth-best goalie in the league
• The Lasting Legacy of David Krejci

Anyhow, all of this brings us to the big question; is there a specific player, specific shot location or other little bit of knowledge that can be the difference-maker for the Boston Bruins on Friday night?

First up, the Boston Bruins need to start scoring on-time. Connor Hellebuyck has given up no less than 8 goals in his last 3 games in the first period alone.

In terms of specific shot locations, there’s no clear-cut spot that we can pinpoint as his weak point, not when you compare him to over goalies across the league. He seems to have similar blocker-side weaknesses that you’d expect and issues getting those that go high on him. Again, despite his 6’4″ frame, no big surprise.

The Boston Bruins will of course be reliant upon the top line trio of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and league-leading goal scorer and All-Star MVP, David Pastrnak to come up with the goods.

With Auston Matthews and Alex Ovechkin both closing the gap in the scoring race, you’d expect David Pastrnak to come roaring out of the gates, all guns blazing.

More so that just relying on the top line though, it’ll be up to the rest of the line-up to force turnovers and make Hellebuyck dish out rebounds that we can put home. With no sign of Dustin Byfuglien returning to the line-up, there is a little bit less grit on the Jets blue-line these days and we must make them pay.

With Hellebuyck taking on far more of the workload than his back-up Laurent Brossoit this season, there’s every chance we can catch a tired goalie. There’s also the risk that we catch a goalie returning from the All-Star Game refreshed and revitalised.

There’s no denying that he’s going to be a Vezina Trophy contender this season, but that shouldn’t be reason for the Boston Bruins to be kept off the score sheet.

This month, Pastrnak still leads the way for the team’s Janaury goal scoring with 8 goals and Bergeron is right up there with 4, but the likes of Jake Debrusk (4), David Krejci (4), Charlie Coyle (2) and Anders Bjork (2) have all stepped up, contributing more than a goal each in January.

It’s all going to come down to being relentless and putting plenty of shots on him. While he faces a lot of shots often, we have players like Pastrnak that are proving incredible at placing their shot right where it needs to go this year. Put enough on him and surely he’ll crack!