Laine helps Jets take flight
WINNIPEG — Patrik Laine likes to score in bunches, especially against the Dallas Stars.
Laine had the third hat trick of his rookie season, and second against Dallas, as the Winnipeg Jets snapped a four-game losing streak with a 5-2 win over the Stars on Tuesday night at MTS Centre.
“It’s always nice to score,” said Laine, whose 26 goals puts him one short of the rookie goal lead. “It was a huge game for me and my linemates and the whole team. These four last games haven’t been that good so it was just nice to have a game like this.”
Laine scored for the first time in six games, moving to within one of Toronto rookie Auston Matthews’s 27 goals, and within one point of Matthews’s teammate Mitch Marner who leads all rookies in scoring with 48 points.
“I would say that release is extraordinary. He gets the puck on and off his stick so fast that you can’t find it,” said Jets head coach Paul Maurice of Laine’s winner. “That’s the difference, right in that pure talent. You go back two years ago and how hard we had to grind to crash one in. How do I say this the right way? When you’re assessing Patty Laine and where he’s at — if he didn’t score the three goals, I could’ve still come out and said that was his best game of the season. All the other pieces to his game were NHL right on.”
Joel Armia and Blake Wheeler also scored for Winnipeg (26-29-4). Mark Scheifele added three assists to up his team-leading point total to 56, which is good for seventh in the NHL.
The Stars (22-26-10) erased a two-goal deficit with second-period goals from Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin. Benn tallied his 500th career point on his goal and added his 501st on an assist on the Seguin goal.
Connor Hellebuyck made 34 saves in his third straight start for the Jets since Ondrej Pavelec suffered a lower-body injury on Feb. 7, improving his record to 18-15-1 on the season.
Stars netminder Antti Niemi stopped 18 of the 21 shots he faced, dropping his personal mark to 10-9-4. TORONTO — Auston Matthews scored twice and Frederik Andersen won his 100th career game as the Toronto Maple Leafs emerged with a 7-1 win and two key points over the surging New York Islanders on Tuesday night.
The Leafs entered the affair just one point up on the Islanders for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, increasing that cushion to three (63 to 60) with the victory. Toronto had dropped six of its previous eight games. The Islanders had scooped up points in 10 of the first 14 games (8-2-2) under interim coach Doug Weight.
Matthews scored his 26th and 27th goals in the win while Andersen stopped 33-of-34 shots.
Josh Leivo had a career-high three points (one goal and two assists) in the win, Nazem Kadri and William Nylander also chipped in with two points apiece (goal and assist). Toronto (26-18-11) hit a season-high for goals this season in the win, Tyler Bozak and Matt Hunwick both finding the net as well.