{"id":463146,"date":"2026-02-19T08:42:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T08:42:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/463146\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T08:42:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T08:42:12","slug":"connor-hellebuycks-proud-reaction-to-team-usas-win-over-sweden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/463146\/","title":{"rendered":"Connor Hellebuyck’s ‘proud’ reaction to Team USA’s win over Sweden"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there was ever a statement performance, this was it. Connor Hellebuyck stood tall and helped Team USA overcome Sweden 2-1 in overtime on Wednesday in the quarterfinals<\/a> at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. The Winnipeg Jets<\/a> netminder turned aside 28 of 29 shots, finishing the night with a .966 save percentage.<\/p>\n

Hellebuyck, the reigning Hart and Vezina Trophy winner, entered the Olympics under a cloud of doubt because of his postseason track record. Over his last three NHL playoff runs, he managed a .872 save percentage and a 3.60 goals-against average in 23 appearances. In last season’s playoffs, Hellebuyck recorded a 3.08 GAA and an .866 save percentage, the lowest among goaltenders who played more than four games. Against Team Sweden, however, he conceded just once and preserved the Americans’ medal hopes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s one of those moments where you’ll look back at years down the road and just be so proud to be a part of it,\u201d the 32-year-old said<\/a>, reflecting on the victory.<\/p>\n

Through three outings, Hellebuyck has allowed just three goals, stopping 68 of 71 shots and leading the tournament with a 0.98 GAA and .958 save percentage.<\/p>\n

Team USA outshot Sweden 40-29 but needed a late response after surrendering momentum. Dylan Larkin opened the scoring at 11:03 of the second period, redirecting a one-timer past Jacob Markstrom following a sequence involving Quinn Hughes and Jack Hughes. Team Sweden equalized with 1:31 remaining in regulation when Mika Zibanejad capitalized on a one-timer with Markstrom pulled for an extra attacker.<\/p>\n

In overtime, the Americans controlled play, putting six shots on net and keeping Sweden from generating any. At 3:27 of the extra frame, Quinn Hughes ended the contest with a wrist shot off the post and in, assisted by Matt Boldy and Auston Matthews.<\/p>\n

The United States, which went 0-for-2 on the power play while Team Sweden finished 0-for-1, now moves on to face Slovakia in the semifinals on Friday, with a place in the gold medal game at stake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If there was ever a statement performance, this was it. Connor Hellebuyck stood tall and helped Team USA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":463147,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5121],"tags":[5,78,4,2602,3255,77,18,5288],"class_list":{"0":"post-463146","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-winnipeg-jets","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-jets","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-olympics","12":"tag-team-usa","13":"tag-winnipeg","14":"tag-winnipeg-jets","15":"tag-winnipegjets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116096410831587016","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}