Hellebuyck posts first shutout with Devils in 4-0 rout of Maple Leafs

Connor Hellebuyck posted his first shutout since joining the New Jersey Devils, stopping all 23 shots he faced as New Jersey beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0 on Sunday at Scotiabank Arena, extending the Devils' winning streak to five games. The result keeps New Jersey second in the Metropolitan Division and pushes the goaltender's record with his new team to 5-0-0 since a trade that reshaped the Eastern Conference three weeks ago.

A lopsided night in Toronto

Timo Meier scored twice in the second period to end a nine-game goal drought, beating Anthony Stolarz with a one-timer off a feed from Declan Chisholm and then redirecting a Jack Hughes shot past him. Nico Hischier added a power-play goal in the third period, and Connor Brown closed it out with an empty-net goal after Stolarz was pulled. Jesper Bratt and Hughes each picked up two assists.

Hischier's secondary assist on Meier's first goal was also the 500th point of his career, making the Devils' captain the third Swiss-born player to reach that milestone, after Roman Josi and Kevin Fiala. He said afterward that the number meant less to him than the win, noting that he is more focused on building winning memories with this team than on personal totals.

Hellebuyck faced only 23 shots but kept the Leafs off the board for 60 minutes, a performance that improved New Jersey to 13-5-0 overall, 9-1-0 in its last ten games and winners of five straight. The box score credited Anthony Stolarz with 25 saves on 28 shots in the loss. Toronto, which played without injured defensemen Morgan Rielly and Chris Tanev, fell to 8-9-2 and has now lost three consecutive games, dropping to seventh in the Atlantic Division and 11th in the Eastern Conference, according to the league's official standings.

The trade that set this up

The shutout carries extra weight because of how recently Hellebuyck arrived in New Jersey. The Devils acquired the goaltender from the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 23 in a deal that sent forward Dawson Mercer, goaltender Nico Daws, prospect Alexander Command, forward Nick Bjugstad and draft picks back to Winnipeg, a package widely reported at the time as one of the most lopsided goaltender trades in recent NHL memory. The move came only after a standoff in which Hellebuyck sat out training camp and the start of the season while seeking a trade away from Winnipeg; he later told the Associated Press he was glad to be playing hockey again once the deal was finalized.

Since then, Hellebuyck has not lost a start for New Jersey. His official statistics page shows a goaltender who arrived with a résumé that already included three Vezina Trophies as the league's top goaltender and a Hart Trophy as its most valuable player, won while he was still with the Jets. He added an Olympic gold medal to that list in February, backstopping the United States to a 2-1 overtime win over Canada at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games, the Americans' first men's hockey gold since 1980. Jack Hughes, now one of his teammates in New Jersey, scored the winning goal in that final.

A familiar opponent for Keefe

Sunday's game also doubled as a homecoming of sorts for Devils coach Sheldon Keefe, who spent parts of five seasons behind Toronto's bench before the Maple Leafs fired him in May 2024. New Jersey hired him weeks later. Keefe said his team simplified its game as it wore on, crediting the response after a sluggish start on the second half of a back-to-back; the Devils had played on Long Island the night before and did not arrive in Toronto until roughly 3 a.m.

For Toronto, the loss extended a rough stretch that has seen the Leafs lose five of their last six games overall. Captain Auston Matthews was held without a point for the first time in seven games, and coach Jim Hiller acknowledged it was not a good night for his team once New Jersey's top players found their rhythm. The Leafs were already shorthanded on the back end, and forward Jack Roslovic was a late scratch with a lower-body injury, adding to a thin lineup against a Devils team playing its best hockey of the season. Forward Colton Sissons also left the game late in the second period with a lower-body issue, a development Hiller said afterward he was concerned about heading into a condensed November schedule.

New Jersey, by contrast, has reasons to feel it is rounding into form at the right time. General manager Tom Fitzgerald gave up considerable organizational depth, including a recent first-round pick in Command and an everyday top-nine forward in Mercer, to land a goaltender entering the back half of his career. Three weeks in, the early returns, a 5-0-0 record and a five-game winning streak for the team as a whole, have quieted most of the second-guessing that followed the trade in Winnipeg and New Jersey alike.

"I think it was a mature game we showed here tonight," Hischier said.

What's next

The win keeps New Jersey rolling into a stretch of divisional games that will test a roster now built around a top-tier starting goaltender. Hellebuyck is expected to have his workload managed carefully over the coming week as the Devils continue what amounts to a trial run of the new-look roster against conference rivals.

The more pointed storyline arrives Tuesday, when Hellebuyck returns to Winnipeg to face the Jets for the first time since the trade. The circumstances of his departure, including the holdout that delayed the deal for weeks, mean the reception he gets from a fan base that watched him win three Vezinas in Jets colors will be closely watched. For now, New Jersey's goaltending change looks like exactly what it was billed as: a win-now move by a team trying to turn a long stretch of regular-season success into a genuine Stanley Cup contender.