Connor Hellebuyck won his New Jersey Devils debut on Tuesday night. He stopped 16 of the 17 shots he faced in a 5-1 win over the Dallas Stars, per the AP and ESPN. Nico Hischier scored twice. The 33-year-old three-time Vezina Trophy winner started four days after the Winnipeg Jets traded him. The AP reported that the trade followed Winnipeg's suspension of him for failing to report to training camp. The feed summaries we have don't say why the trade happened beyond that.
Our box score matches the reporting: 17 shots against, 16 saves, one goal allowed, .941 over 60 minutes. Fifteen of the saves came at even strength. The other came on a short-handed chance, though the Stars had no power plays all night. Our season table lists him at 17 saves on 18 shots (.944), so that line is one shot off the game account. We have no report explaining the gap. ESPN's headline called the debut "fun". The summaries we have include no quotes from Hellebuyck or the Devils.
Hellebuyck faced the lighter workload. New Jersey outshot Dallas 27-17 and led 1-0 after one period. It scored three times in the second and once in the third. Dallas got its only goal in the second. The Stars took five penalties for 21 penalty minutes to the Devils' one. The Devils went 0-for-3 on the power play, so all five of their goals came at even strength. Hischier's pair brought him to seven goals and nine points in 12 games. Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist on six shots. Luke Hughes scored, and Jesper Boqvist also scored.
The archive's most recent full season for Hellebuyck, 57 games, shows a .895 save percentage and a 2.86 goals-against average. His 2025 numbers with Winnipeg were 47 wins, a 2.00 GAA and a .925 save percentage. One game says little about which version New Jersey has. His first start, though, was a clean one.
The Devils are 8-4, second in the Metropolitan Division, and have won four straight. Their previous two wins were 4-1 over Anaheim and 3-1 over Los Angeles. Dallas is 7-4, third in the Central, and had won its previous two, including a 6-3 win over the Islanders on Sunday. Winnipeg is 4-5, seventh in the Central, and lost 5-1 to Florida on Tuesday, its second straight loss.
8-52nd in Metropolitan DivisionStreak L1
New Jersey plays at Colorado on Wednesday, then at Vegas on Friday. The reporting we have doesn't say who starts in Colorado. Dallas hosts Montreal on Thursday. Winnipeg is at Tampa Bay the same night.
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