LAINE’S SLUMP COMES TO END IN FINNISH FLASH
Sniper notches hat trick in his homeland after pep talk from Jets legend Selanne
Teemu Selanne had a feeling it was only a matter of time before Patrik Laine was going to snap his five-game scoring slump.
Speaking to a trio of reporters from Winnipeg before Thursday’s Global Series Finland game against the Florida Panthers, the former Jets sniper said he offered up some sage advice to Laine during a discussion Wednesday.
“We all have to go through little slumps here and there,” said Selanne. “I was talking with Patrik yesterday, (telling him) to relax, don’t try too hard. Nothing great happens when you are squeezing your stick. Just relax. Everything has to come smoothly.
“He’s one of the guys, like all of the goal-scorers, he needs a couple of good confidence games to get a couple of goals and then it’s like the Heinz ketchup bottle syndrome. Sometimes you don’t get the ketchup out, but when it comes, it really comes. That’s what he needs. He needs to get that ketchup moving out. We all know that he can score 10 goals in 10 games. Or not even 10 games. It’s all about confidence. There’s no better feeling as a goal-scorer when you know that the puck is coming. He needs a couple of confidence games to get over this slump. You can’t lose anything over the summer. You know that eventually it’s going to happen. You just have to start as soon as possible.”
Selanne endured similar droughts during his Hall of Fame career.
“I know exactly how he feels and how the city feels,” said Selanne. “I went through it during my time and there is nothing better. Winnipeg has great fans and that’s why I know so well how he feels when he has a lot of goals and when he doesn’t have a lot of goals. I think experience really, really helps with this. You can’t start feeling sorry for yourself when you have a couple of bad games. You know that media is all over you. You just have to put that to the side. And I know that kid and he doesn’t read the newspaper and he doesn’t take pressure from there. But he’s expecting the most from himself and a lot of times that makes you try too hard and start forcing stuff.”
After going five games without scoring a goal or recording a point, Laine scored three times as the Jets earned a 4-2 victory over the Florida Panthers before a capacity crowd of 13,490 at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki.
Laine and fellow Finn Aleksander Barkov, a Panthers forward, have been the focus of the Global Series Finland this week and have done a fantastic job handling the spotlight that comes along with trying to grow the game in your home country.
“They’re doing really good. They know that they have to do all these things and it’s not easy,” said Selanne. “I did this in 2013 when the team came here. The rest of the team, they go to lunch and dinner and you have to do this, this and this. It’s all fine. It’s important for the game. It’s not easy with the jet lag and everything and in the middle of the season it’s hard for the guys, too. But for the fans and hockey in Finland, this means a lot.”
Selanne was on hand for the ceremonial puck drop with Laine and Barkov in what some observers viewed as a passing of the torch.
While Laine supplied a hat trick, Barkov assisted on the Panthers’ first goal from Keith Yandle.
“He’s probably the biggest hockey player from Finland who ever played, so it was nice to be there with him and (Barkov),” Laine said of Selanne. “I would have liked to win the next faceoff against him. But it was pretty special.”
Selanne was thrilled to see the NHL return to his homeland.
“It’s a unique thing for Finnish people. Finns are like Canadians; they’re hockey crazy,” said Selanne. “Every time when you get this kind of treat it’s a big thing and people are excited. And of course when there are, this time, two of the biggest Finnish stars here, it benefits everybody.”
The fact one of his former teams was involved brought a smile to Selanne’s face.
“We have a long history with Winnipeg here,” said Selanne. “They’re the most famous (NHL) hockey team right now and people are really, every morning, they’re checking out how Winnipeg played and how Patrik played. They’ve been living this whole thing with him.”
They’ll continue living it long after the Jets return to North America Sunday following the second game of this set Friday with the Panthers.
Like all of the goal scorers, he needs a couple of good confidence games to get a couple of goals and then it’s like the Heinz ketchup bottle syndrome.