Laine’s hat trick lifts Jets in Helsinki
HELSINKI » Patrik Laine could hardly find a better place than home to show off his high-scoring instincts.
Laine, from Finland, had a hat trick as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Florida Panthers 4-2 in a regularseason game in the Finnish capital Thursday night.
Laine scored in the second period and twice in the third, including an empty-netter, in the opener of a backto-back series between the teams in front of a roaring sellout crowd of
13,500 at Hartwall Arena.
“I don’t think you can imagine how good that feels,” Laine said. “It’s good to be home and score all those goals back here. It’s pretty awesome.”
Laine wristed a shot past James Reimer on a power play for a 2-1 lead with 4:46 left in the second, then slapped a one-timer for the winner on a two-man advantage from atop the left circle 3:28 into the third. He scored on an empty net for his fifth career hat trick.
Mathieu Perreault scored the opening goal for the Jets (8-4-1), and captain Blake Wheeler and defenseman Dustin Byfuglien had three assists each. The Panthers
(2-5-3), who outshot Winnipeg 3836, tied the score twice on goals by Keith Yandle and Evgenii Dadonov.
Florida captain Aleksander Barkov, also a native of Finland, assisted on Yandle’s goal.
“Overall, as a team, we played good in their zone,” Barkov said. “We have another game (Friday), and we have to concentrate on that.”
STARS 2, MAPLE LEAFS 1 » Dallas backup goalie Anton Khudobin made 30 saves to help the Stars beat Toronto.
Jamie Benn and Devin Shore scored, and Tyler Seguin added two assists.
Patrick Marleau scored for Toronto, and Frederik Andersen made 16 saves.
ISLANDERS 3, PENGUINS 2 » Josh Bailey scored a short-handed goal in the second period and then the
only goal in a shootout to lift New York over Pittsburgh.
Thomas Greiss made 29 saves as the Islanders swept a homeand-home set with the Penguins. New York also improved to 5-0-0 against Metropolitan Division rivals this season.
Islanders captain Anders Lee gave his team a 2-1 lead at 10:11 of the third with his fifth goal of the season, assisted by Thomas Hickey and Brock Nelson.
Evgeni Malkin tied it at 2 with a power-play goal at 12:02. Kris Letang and Phil Kessel had assists on Malkin’s seventh goal, which extended his point streak to nine games.
PREDATORS 4, LIGHTNING 1 » Pekka Rinne made 42 saves in his return after missing five games with an injury, and Nashville beat Tampa Bay.
Rinne was hurt in the third period of a 5-3 win at Calgary on Oct. 19. He was stretching to try and stop the puck when teammate Kevin Fiala landed on top of the goalie in an awkward-looking collision.
Kyle Turris, Roman Josi, Calle Jarnkrok and Miikka Salomaki scored, and Ryan Johansen had two nifty assists for the Predators. Right wing Viktor Arvidsson, who has eight goals and 12 points, was a late scratch due to a lower-body injury and is day to day.
The Predators reached 10 wins in 13 games, the fastest in franchise history. The previous mark was 15 games, done three times.