Hutton opened the season with a 6-0-0 record, including back-to-back shutouts (one of which set a franchise record), but a road loss to the New York Rangers on Oct. 24 began a stretch of 12 starts without a win for the goaltender. The run coincided with strong play from Ullmark, who took on the No. 1 role.
There were other factors at play outside of Hutton's individual performance. He had multiple 40-save performances decided in overtime. Team defense is always an influence on a goalie's statistics, which Krueger has noted.
All that said, Hutton spoke repeatedly about controlling what he could control and supporting Ullmark to the best of his ability. That wasn't just talk.
"He was a really good teammate, first and foremost," Bales said. "He's a really good person and obviously he'd like to be in the net, but both goalies understand there's one net and when they're not in the net, they're cheering the other guy on. I know sometimes for people it's hard to believe that you're sitting there on the bench and you're hoping your partner does well, but we talk about focusing on stuff he can control.
"If you're sitting there worrying about how the other guy's playing or hoping he has a bad game, I mean, that's just negative energy and that doesn't help you out any. Just going in and controlling what you can control, which is showing up every day and being a good teammate, working hard, and treating your practices like they're games so when your chance does come, you're prepared and you're ready to perform."