Laine gets front-row seat to history
Jets forward’s bad moment has him in a ‘good spot’ for Ovechkin’s 600th NHL goal
WASHINGTON — Patrik Laine is always going to remember where he was when Alex Ovechkin scored his 600th NHL goal.
Here’s a hint : Laine didn’t like his vantage point.
The Winnipeg Jets forward was too close for comfort and felt he didn’t do enough to prevent the Washington Capitals captain from scoring his second goal of the game and reaching an impressive milestone in the process.
“I was pretty close watching it. I was in a good spot — just behind him,” said Laine, whose Jets fell 3-2 in a shootout Monday at Capital One Arena. “I was there when he made history, so I can maybe watch that some day and show that I was there getting the minus on the ice.”
The Jets, who slipped to 41-18-10 on the season, close out a six-game road trip on Tuesday against the Nashville Predators, who have gone 10-0-1 in their last 11 games to build a six-point cushion atop the Central Division.
With 13 games left in the regular season, the Jets hold a seven-point edge over the Minnesota Wild in the race for second place in the division.
Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck had another strong performance, finishing with 40 saves. But he felt hopeless when he was down on the ice and made several saves in a sequence before Ovechkin finally chipped his third attempt over him for his 42nd goal of the season.
“Talk about some bad bounces. It hits my glove and absolutely rockets out of it. I had made a couple of saves before that, too,” Hellebuyck said. “It was his turn to score, I guess.
“Every point is earned. I liked the way we battled. Obviously, we can learn from this. We didn’t get the two points. That’s what we want and what we need right now.”
Ovechkin told the Washington Post after the game the moment was “special.”
“Now you have to score another one to make 601,” he added.
Hellebuyck was upset about being the goalie who gave up the milestone marker, but respected Ovechkin’s 600th goal in 990 NHL games.
“Absolutely, I definitely have an appreciation for that. I seem to be on the wrong end of all these milestones. I was there for (Sidney) Crosby’s (1,000th point). (Evgeni) Malkin got one on me. I think even (Phil) Kessel got one on me, I don’t know — and now Ovechkin,” Hellebuyck said. “I’m definitely going to be in some historical film.”
Laine was a big reason why the Jets were able to rally from a 2-1 deficit in the third period to earn a point in this one, getting open in the slot and burying a feed from Paul Stastny at 3:53 to even the score and force overtime.
“I guess I’m so invisible in front of the net that nobody saw me,” Laine said. “I was pretty surprised there was a lot of room.”
Laine’s goal was his 41st of the season, gave him at least a goal in six consecutive games and extended his point streak to 12 games (with 16 goals and 22 points in that span).
Nikolaj Ehlers had the other goal for the Jets, who are having trouble getting enough secondary scoring of late. During this road trip, the Jets have scored 12 goals — eight for Laine, two for Ehlers, one for Stastny and one for Joel Armia. For a team that has nine guys in double digits this season, the Jets have been too reliant on one line of late — even if goals are much tougher to come by during the final quarter of the season.
Winnipeg lost veteran forward Matt Hendricks to an undisclosed injury during the second period and head coach Paul Maurice isn’t expecting him to play against the Predators.
It was another eventful overtime, one that saw the Jets kill off a slashing minor to centre Bryan Little.
Jets captain Blake Wheeler tried to find Little with a cross-ice pass on a two-on-one rush in overtime, but Capitals forward Chandler Stephenson hustled back to break up the play.
Capitals centre Evgeny Kuznetsov chipped the puck past a pinching Dustin Byfuglien, walked in on a breakaway and beat Hellebuyck high to the blocker side with 48.3 seconds remaining in overtime.
The Jets have won just two of their 10 games that have been decided in overtime, and this was another example of being a bit too aggressive during three-on-three play.
“So you get your two-on-one and you don’t make it good, and it’s a bobbling puck and usually the ice is just brutal at the end of it,” Maurice said. “Keep it in and you’re going to get a chance. You don’t and you give up a pretty good one.”
It didn’t take long for Ovechkin to show he was tired of being stuck on goal No. 598, firing eight shot attempts in the opening period and scoring during a two-man advantage at 4:35 of the opening stanza.
Ovechkin finished with eight shots on goal, 15 shot attempts (five were blocked, two missed the net) and he added five hits in a vintage performance from the Great Eight, who received a lengthy standing ovation after becoming the 20th player to hit 600 goals. The only three to do it in fewer games were Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Brett Hull.
“It wasn’t talked about, trying to keep him off the board or where he stood in terms of career goals,” Wheeler said. “Obviously every time you play this team, you have a tremendous amount of respect for where he is on the ice and what he’s done.
“Six hundred goals is incredible, especially at his age. It wasn’t something we focused on, but I’m sure every guy probably acknowledged at some time on the ice: ‘Congrats.’ It’s a pretty rare accomplishment, especially nowadays.”
The Jets are 3-1-1 on this road trip. They plan to keep it a winning series by taking the finale against the Predators.
“Opportunity to have a real strong road trip,” Maurice said. “Always a challenge (playing) back to back, especially going into there. But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for our guys. (It) could be a real good trip for us.”