Kochetkov Opens 7-0 With a Shutout, Hellebuyck Says a Stanley Cup Is All That’s Left

NHLHellebuyck says a Stanley Cup is the one thing missing from his résumé

A day after the trade we reported in yesterday’s edition, Connor Hellebuyck met the New Jersey media on Saturday and made his aim plain: “I’m here to win, and the only thing I’ve got left (to fill) on my resume is a Stanley Cup.” He said the long wait at home had worn on him, “so I’m just really excited to play hockey again,” and that he doesn’t expect to need long to get up to speed after a month of training in Michigan that he treated like a long camp. On joining the franchise Martin Brodeur built: “Following a legacy of Marty Brodeur, I’m going to honor that.” Coach Sheldon Keefe said the medical staff will assess him before the team sets a first start, adding, “It seems like he’s in a really good place” (NHL.com).

That night, with Hellebuyck not dressed, Jake Allen needed only 12 saves as the Devils beat Los Angeles 3-1 (NHL.com). Allen, who will share the net with him, put the arrival simply: “When you get an NHL MVP traded to your team, it doesn’t happen very often. We’re very fortunate” (NewJerseyDevils.com). New Jersey starts a three-game road trip in Dallas on Tuesday.

On InGoal: The Unique Brilliance of Connor Hellebuyck and Connor Hellebuyck’s Path (Parents, Ep. 342).

NHLCooley stops 28 of 29 for his third straight win as Calgary beats Detroit

Calgary won once in its first seven games. It has now won three in a row, all with Devin Cooley in net. He turned aside 28 of 29 Red Wings shots in a 4-1 home win on Saturday, which lifts him to 3-2 (The Canadian Press via TSN). The save of the night came in the second period, right after the Flames went back in front by a goal: Alex DeBrincat got in alone, and Cooley went down into the splits and kicked it away with his right pad (CalgaryFlames.com).

By InGoal’s count from the NHL box scores, he has stopped 100 of 104 shots in the three wins (.962): 34 against Carolina on Oct. 18, 38 against Minnesota on Oct. 22 (the “unconscious” night in our Oct. 23 edition), and 28 on Saturday. After the game he told Sportsnet how the stretch has felt: “I’ve just been in a consecutive state of flow. Even when I go home. I go home and I’m not really thinking about much. I’m just reading with my rabbit and not thinking about much.”

On InGoal: Devin Cooley’s Pro Reads and Why Devin Cooley’s Viral “Nothing Matters” Mindset Actually Works for Goalies.

Updated 10:54 AM PT

NHLAround the league

• James Reimer, 38, is back in the NHL: the Rangers signed him to a one-year, $850,000 contract on Sunday, making New York his ninth NHL team (Luke Fox, NHL.com). He earned it on an AHL tryout, stopping all 35 shots in his only start for Hartford on Friday. The Rangers have been short in goal since Igor Shesterkin‘s season-ending injury on Oct. 9, with Dylan Garand starting the eight games since.
• Cam Talbot, 39, made 26 saves, 13 of them in the third period, as Columbus beat Vegas 2-1 in overtime. He was grateful coach Rick Bowness gave him the start with Columbus looking to bounce back: “It means a lot. He could have easily went back to Jet” (NHL.com).
• Anthony Stolarz stopped 30 of 32 as Toronto won 7-2 in Edmonton (NHL.com).

AHLMilic and DiVincentiis stop 76 of 79 as Manitoba sweeps Iowa

The Manitoba Moose went into Iowa for two games and allowed three goals. Thomas Milic made 42 saves on 45 shots in a 4-3 win on Friday, and Domenic DiVincentiis followed with all 34 on Saturday in a 2-0 win, his second shutout this season, and was the first star (Manitoba Moose).

DiVincentiis, 22, is from Toronto and played three seasons for the OHL’s North Bay Battalion; Winnipeg took him in the seventh round (207th overall) in 2022. Milic, 23, from New Westminster, B.C., came through the WHL’s Seattle Thunderbirds, played for Canada at the 2023 world juniors, and was a Jets fifth-round pick (151st) in 2023; he has three NHL games (NHL.com).

On InGoal: InGoal Radio Episode 232 with Dom DiVincentiis and InGoal Radio Episode 201 with Thomas Milic.

CollegeBayne makes 72 saves in her second NCAA start, Lehti follows 51 saves with a shutout

Saint Anselm freshman Kalyssa Bayne faced 75 shots at Franklin Pierce on Saturday and stopped 72 of them, 28 in the third period alone, in a 3-0 loss. It was only her second college start, and the Hawks say the total is four short of the program record she set in her first (Saint Anselm Athletics; saves by period from the College Hockey News box score). By InGoal’s count, that is 148 saves in her first two NCAA starts, and the third time in nine days a Saint Anselm goalie has made 72 or more: Bayne’s 76 in her debut on Oct. 16 (Oct. 17 edition), Emma Brewer’s matching 76 the next night (Oct. 18 edition), and Saturday’s 72.

A night after his career-high 51 saves gave Minnesota State its first win, Lassi Lehti blanked St. Thomas 2-0 with 30 more for his first shutout as a Maverick. That is 81 saves on 82 shots for the weekend sweep (Minnesota State).

Around the NCAA

• Colorado College sophomore Jackson Unger stopped a career-high 35 shots, five of them on Air Force power plays in the first period, for his second career shutout in a 4-0 win at Air Force (Colorado College).
• Alan Lendak made 30 saves as Ferris State beat Michigan Tech 2-1 for its first win of the season (College Hockey News).
• Noemi Martinez turned aside all 29 shots for New Hampshire in a 3-0 win at Harvard (College Hockey News).

U SPORTSSaskatchewan's Maier and Backman blank Regina

Both Saskatchewan Huskies teams shut out the Regina Cougars on Saturday. Nolan Maier, who holds the Saskatoon Blades’ records for wins, shutouts, saves, and games (Saskatoon Blades), played four pro seasons before joining the Huskies in January: 93 ECHL games and 11 in the AHL, the first two seasons in the Philadelphia Flyers system with Reading and Lehigh Valley (AHL and ECHL league stats). On Saturday he stopped all 19 shots, including three Regina power plays in the second period, in a 5-0 men’s win at Merlis Belsher Place. It was his second shutout this season (Huskies Athletics). In Regina, Emma Backman made 21 saves in the women’s 1-0 win, with Jaiyana Nurani scoring the only goal in the first period (Huskies Athletics box score).

InternationalPasche and Säteri post National League shutouts, Hellberg stops 35 in Luleå

Around Europe

• Kevin Pasche stopped all 33 Fribourg-Gottéron shots as Lausanne HC won 2-0 at home in Switzerland’s National League.
• Harri Säteri, 36, who played 15 NHL games for Florida and Arizona, made 30 saves in EHC Biel-Bienne’s 5-0 win over EV Zug, also in the National League.
• Magnus Hellberg, 35, stopped 35 of 37 as Djurgårdens IF won 3-2 at Luleå Hockey in Sweden’s SHL. He played 26 NHL games for five teams, most of them for Detroit in 2022-23.

Save totals in this section come from the National League and SHL game statistics, and NHL careers from NHL.com.

On InGoal: InGoal Radio Episode 166 with Harri Säteri.

JuniorQuinn Beumer, 17, blanks Omaha with 34 saves

Tri-City Storm goalie Quinn Beumer, 17, stopped all 34 shots and was the first star as the Storm won 3-0 in Omaha on Saturday. At the other end was Anthony Sciere, whose 43-save shutout for the Lancers was in yesterday’s edition; he made 30 saves this time.

Notable performances in the USHL

• Cash Cruitt, 18, made 40 saves on 42 shots and was the second star as the Madison Capitols beat Waterloo 6-2.
• Samuel Doyon-Cataquiz, 19, stopped all 29 shots as the Muskegon Lumberjacks won 4-0 in Lincoln.

Figures from the USHL’s official game reports for Tri-City at Omaha and Waterloo at Madison, and the Muskegon at Lincoln report.

HistoryTony Esposito's first Chicago win was a shutout in Montreal, 57 years ago today

On this day in 1969, the Chicago Black Hawks were winless after six games (0-5-1) when Tony Esposito stopped all 30 Montreal shots in a 5-0 win at the Forum. It was his first win for Chicago, and it came against the Canadiens, who had left him unprotected that summer, when the Black Hawks claimed him in the intra-league draft. The shutout was the first of 15 that season, a modern NHL record, and he won the Calder and Vezina trophies that spring on his way to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988, according to The Canadian Encyclopedia and Wikipedia. The goalie he beat that night, Rogie Vachon, who let in five on 20 shots, turns up on this date again nine years later, below; the NHL’s game page has the box score.

Also on Oct. 25

• 1972: Dave Dryden played his 100th NHL game, stopping all 14 shots for Buffalo in a 0-0 tie with Boston. Dryden is credited with designing the combination mask, a fibreglass helmet with a cage over the face, which is still the style goalies wear today; mask maker Greg Harrison turned his drawings into the finished mask (NHL.com, Wikipedia).
• 1978: Hall of Famer Rogie Vachon played his 600th regular-season game, the eighth goalie to get there, with 26 saves in a Detroit win over the Colorado Rockies.
• 1988: Steve Weeks played his 200th NHL game, making 20 saves on 21 shots for Vancouver against Washington.
• 2008: Cam Ward made 57 saves on 60 shots for Carolina in a win over the Islanders, tied for the 13th-most in a regular-season game since the NHL began counting saves in 1955-56.

The NHL game details in this list come from the NHL’s game records at NHL Records.

BirthdaysChad Smith, the drummer who wanted to be a goalie

Happy birthday to Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith (65), who grew up outside Detroit as a Red Wings fan and played goal as a kid. He told Mix magazine why: “the goalie had the most equipment, like a drummer” (Mix). Opening Hockey Night in Canada in December 2024, he drew another link between the two jobs: “the backstop or the heart… you’re the one kind of calling the shots” (Sportsnet).

Have goalie news, a big save, a signing, or a coaching hire? Send it to news@ingoalmag.com.