WINNIPEG - It's a nickname that bears repeating.
Hatrick Laine, indeed.
The second three-goal game in 18-year-old Patrik Laine's young career fuelled the Winnipeg Jets to blowout win Tuesday, 8-2 over the division rival Dallas Stars at MTS Centre.
Yes, sir. It was that kind of night - a complete and utter beat down in all facets.
Three of the Jets' eight goals came on the power play, snapping an 0-for-17 drought with the man-advantage.
Laine also drew an assist for a career-high four-point game, while five others had multi-point efforts, including Mark Scheifele's two-goal, two-assist outing to put him atop the NHL leaderboard in overall points (18) this season.
Laine now has a league-leading 11 goals on the year, three clear of Scheifele, Sidney Crosby, Artem Anisimov and David Pastrnak.
Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves in the victory.
Laine leads Jets to blowout win over Stars
Five others had multi-point efforts, including Scheifele's two-goal, two-assist outing
"It was unbelievable to score three goals again," Laine said. "I'm proud of myself and I'm proud of our team. We played a really good game today. "Scoring eight goals. That doesn't happen every day. It was a special win."
The Jets entered the night having been outscored 24-5 in second periods this season. Suffice to say that formerly large deficit has been tidied up nicely.
"Our risk assessment in the second period was really good," Head Coach Paul Maurice said. "We did some good things in the offensive zone, drew some penalties, and created some chances from there."
After the Stars cut the deficit to one with a power-play goal just a minute-and-a-half into the second period (rookie Devin Shore made a nice play, curling off the right wall and getting the puck in front to Patrick Eaves, who tipped it under the arm of Hellebuyck), the Jets got right back with a PPG of their own, and it was you-know-who doing what he does best.
Blake Wheeler made a great pass across to goalmouth, giving Laine two cracks at it in front. The first one glanced off the post, but he stayed with it and buried on the second try, restoring the two-goal lead the Jets had built up in the first.
Laine completed the hat trick with one of the prettiest of his young career, effortlessly converting on a 2-on-1 with Scheifele, one timing a shot off his natural side up and over sprawling efforts of the goalie to give the Jets a 4-1 lead.
"Going over the right side has helped him. He may at some point come back to the left, but the reads are a little easier for him now," Maurice said. "Any of the things that needed to come out of his game were systemized by a style of play on a rink that is seven-and-a-half feet wider (in Europe). … Each game he's gotten better and better, and now you see him finishing his checks, too. What you saw in his first few games is that he doesn't want to make any mistakes, he doesn't want to get caught, he doesn't want to be a reason for an odd-man rush. What you're seeing now is, he's just learning the game now. Coming over when you're 18 years old, there's a lot to process, and Mark has been really good in the middle for him.
"You can feel it in the crowd. When he gets the puck from anywhere, you can feel it, the anticipation of the shot. Everybody on our bench has that same feeling."
And the Jets weren't done.
Nic Petan juked his way into the slot, fired a quick shot into the pads and Marko Dano was there to jam home the rebound, giving Winnipeg a 5-1 lead at 17:09 before Scheifele's second of the night - a power-play marker - made it a 6-1 game.
Petan and Laine picked up the A's on Scheifele's goal, extending their multi-point nights.
The shots were 17-1 Jets after the Stars' goal early in the period.
Andrew Copp (shorthanded) and Adam Lowry scored in the third for the Jets, while Tyler Seguin had a power-play goal for Dallas.
Scheifele opened the scoring for the Jets at 3:06 of the first period, after the Stars recorded the first four shots of the game. On a 3-on-1 with Nikolaj Ehlers and Patrik Laine, Scheifele took a feed from No. 27 on the near side and easily converted in tight, with Dallas defender Dan Hamhuis crashing into the goaltender.
"We're playing the simple game," Scheifele said of his line. "We're making chips to each other, we're not doing anything too fancy, we're not roaming around the offensive zone. We're just creating chances for each other and we bury a few dirty ones."
Ehlers had a breakway - his fourth in the past four periods - but failed to convert on the backhand, as Kari Lehtonen got a piece of it with the glove.
Laine put the Jets up by a pair at 8:46, tipping in a Ben Chiarot point shot for the second time in as many games. Paul Postma drew the second assist after Ehlers made a smart play at the line, allowing Chiarot to tee it up from the left point.
"He's not bad. He's a pretty good player," Scheifele said with a wry smile. "He's a special player. He's been doing awesome and the thing is that he's been getting better every game. He's on the puck, he's got a good stick, he's back-checking hard. The biggest thing that goes unnoticed is that he has such good back- pressure. All that stuff leads to creating chances for himself.
"You get the puck on his stick and you know that he's going to score. That's a good feeling for a centre man."
Shots favoured the Stars 14-5 after one period of play.
LATE HITS: After missing the past five games with a lower-body injury, Tyler Myers made his return to the lineup, recording two assists and one fight in 20:12 of ice time alongside Toby Enstrom. … Enstrom, meanwhile was struck with an elbow midway through the first period and had to leave briefly after the NHL's concussion spotters got a look at the replay. The defenceman returned a few minutes later. Stars forward Brett Ritchie, who targeted the head, was not penalized. Adam Lowry took matters into his own hands, dropping the gloves with the offender moments later, earning a split decision in the brief, but spirited tussle.
- Ryan Dittrick, WinnipegJets.com
