Trip home sparks Laine

Four goals in Finland have winger on game

Patrik Laine went to Finland in a funk and came home feeling confident and energized by an unforgettable road trip to his homeland.

The Winnipeg Jets winger was the object of the media’s attention for the better part of a week in Helsinki and he came through for his fans with a four-goal performance over two games against the Florida Panthers.

He scored a hat trick in the first game, a 4-2 win by the Jets, and had an incredible snipe in the second game, a 4-2 loss, picking a corner from a tough angle to beat Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo.

“It was an awesome week or so,” Laine said Sunday after the Jets practised at the Iceplex. “I enjoyed every minute of it. It was just an awesome experience that I’m gonna remember for the rest of my life.”

Others will remember it too. Laine came into the series with just three goals in 12 games and was taking heat from fans, media and himself for his five-on-five play.

He had been shuffled to and fro on all four lines over the course of four games and was making some defensive mistakes that had people concerned.

Then came the barrage of goals, and everything seemed right with the world. Laine now leads the Jets with seven goals in 14 games.

“That fourth goal he scored, in Game 2 there, that’s probably one of the best shots I’ve ever seen live,” said Adam Lowry, Laine’s current linemate. “A lot of us were sitting on the bench in awe, just at the release and where he was able to put it from that angle.”

Jets captain Blake Wheeler has seen it before with Laine, who scored 80 goals in his first two NHL seasons. He gets into mini-slumps, then breaks out in a big way.

“I think when he’s not scoring goals, he puts a lot of pressure on himself,” Wheeler said. “So to get that one in the first game took a lot of weight off his shoulders. He was able to play the game again. It’s a good thing. He’s going to have to learn how to manage that a little bit. But he cares. He wants to be an impact player. You want to play with guys like that. I think we were all really happy to see him do well over there in front of some friends and family that may not get a chance to see him.”

There are some observers who believed Laine was struggling early in the season because the Finland trip was weighing on his mind.

The Jets certainly hope that weight has now been lifted and Laine can get back to being one of the top goal scorers in the league.

“I’m happy for him,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “He was carrying it, there’s no doubt about it. He’s always hard on himself when he’s not scoring. He seemed to struggle a lot going into that series. So he put up four and he’s back, even in practice he looks like he’s back shooting and feeling good about himself.”