LAINE VS. MATTHEWS RIVALRY A SAVOURY, YET RARE, TREAT
Unlike Crosby and Ovechkin, league’s two youngest stars don’t meet regularly
With dozens of cameras and microphones clogged outside the Winnipeg Jets dressing room Tuesday morning, Patrik Laine could not help himself as he passed by them at the conclusion of the team’s morning skate. So he stopped. But it wasn’t to do an interview. Those would come later. The gaggle of reporters, well, they could wait.
The boy eagerly seeking an autograph in the midst of this media mob, well, he couldn’t.
As such, Laine was more than willing to sign his name on the hat of the wide-eyed kid, who was here with his dad all the way from Switzerland.
We’re betting that’s the best souvenir the little guy will get on his entire trip.
This was a snapshot of Patrik Laine’s morning. If the Jets rookie was nervous heading into his second head-to-head regular season NHL matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews — which took place at the Air Canada Centre Tuesday night — he certainly wasn’t showing it.
Indeed, about the only moment of stress he flashed was when he was asked for the umpteenth time about the hype surrounding the so-called rivalry between he and Matthews.
“It’s all built up by the media,” he replied.
Watching the circus-like Laine media scrum from across the dressing room was Jets forward Mathieu Perreault, wearing a wry grin on his face at the sight.
For Perreault, it was a case of: Been there, done that.
Jets forward Perreault has heard all the comparisons.
About how Matthews and Laine, the respective first- and secondoverall picks in the 2016 NHL draft, are poised to have the same type of rivalry as Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.
About how Matthews resembles Crosby, the skilled centre who never says anything controversial. And about how Laine is like Ovechkin in so many ways, from his lethal snapshot to his unbridled swagger.
Where Perreault feels this could be a case of apples and oranges lies in the number of games they face each other in the regular season.
Perreault would know, From 2009-13, he was Ovechkin’s teammate with the Washington Capitals and got a true taste of what the Great Eight vs. Sid The Kid really meant.
“Maybe you can see the beginnings of a similar situation here, but the difference lies in the fact that Ovie and Sidney play in the same conference whereas for us, we only see the Leafs twice a year.
“With Washington we would face the Penguins four or five times plus the possibility of playoff matchups,” Perreault said.
“Because of that, you can really only compare their stats. There’s really not that many head-to-head matchups.”
Laine proved to be the star of the show in their first meeting back on Oct. 19 in Winnipeg, one the hosts won 5-4. Laine scored a hat trick, much to the glee of the usual full house in attendance at MTS Centre.
While Laine seemed to be taking all this propaganda involving he and Matthews in stride Tuesday morning, Perreault recalled how focused Ovechkin would become each and every time a date against Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins loomed.
“Definitely Ovie would get excited for those games,” Perreault said.
“Crosby was one of his rivals and (Ovie) was always trying to prove he was a better player. In the room, with Ovie’s attitude toward those games, you could feel it for sure.
“Plus Pittsburgh was a top team and we were a top team when I was there, so it was always a tough, hard matchup.
“You had to hand it to both of them, too, the way they dealt with the media.
“But I can see where the comparisons come from. Like Ovie and Crosby, (Laine and Matthews) are different players. One is a right winger, one is a centre.”
There is, Perreault admits, one similarity to Ovechkin that stands out when it comes to Laine.
“The way he shoots, so hard and so accurate,” Perreault said.
“It’s ridiculous.”