Laine five-goal game 'fun to watch' for Jets

ST. LOUIS -- Patrik Laine scored five goals for the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday, and according to one teammate, there was a very good reason.

"The funny thing is, it seemed like he was always open tonight," said Jets center Bryan Little, who had an assist on four of Laine's goals. "Whenever he got it, he had a lot of time with it. You can't give him that much time. He's got one of the best shots in the League. It's fun to watch, that's for sure."
Laine once in the first period, three times in the second and once in the third in an 8-4 win against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center.
GAME RECAP: [Laine scores five goals for Jets in win against Blues]
"His shot is that good," Blues forward David Perron said. "The one-timer on the power play, it seemed like no one knew in the rink that it was in the net. It's a special shot, but at the same time, we've got to play him a lot harder. It's almost like we respected him too much."
The goal Perron was referring to was Laine's first, when he one-timed a shot from the left face-off circle high into the net past Chad Johnson.

Laine is the third NHL player since 1997-98 to score five goals in a game. Johan Franzen did it for the Detroit Red Wings on Feb. 2, 2011, and Marian Gaborik did it for the Minnesota Wild on Dec. 20, 2007.
Laine was trying to become the first player since Darryl Sittler of the Toronto Maple Leafs to score six goals (Feb. 7, 1976).
"He should have six ... we were aiming for six, but came up a little short," Little said. "It doesn't even matter; he had five goals and it's unbelievable."
Laine has 11 goals in a four-game streak, which started with a hat trick Monday against the Vancouver Canucks. He leads the NHL with 19 goals.
"It's easy to play when you're on a winning team, so I have to give some credit to my linemates (Little and Kyle Connor, who also had four assists) and obviously our power play," Laine said. "I think our line played very good hockey this road trip. There's still some things we need to work on. This could have been a better trip for the team, but for me it was pretty good."
Laine has three hat tricks this season and seven in his three-season NHL career. That is second most before the age of 21, done in 177 games; he trails Wayne Gretzky, who had 12 in 210 games.
Laine, who turns 21 on April 19, is the 14th player in NHL history and sixth in the modern era (1943-44) to score at least three hat tricks through the first 22 games of a season.
"You're definitely looking for him," Connor said. "It seems like everything he touches right now is going into the back of the net. When he gets on a type of streak like that, it's almost automatic.
"That's the way he's going right now. He's feeling it."