Blue Jackets await Patrik Laine’s return as power play stalls
In the nine games he played for the Blue Jackets this fall before suffering an oblique injury, Patrik Laine didn’t score a power-play goal.
In all but one of his five seasons in the NHL prior to this year, Laine has led his team in power-play goals, including his rookie season with the Winnipeg Jets in 2016-17. When he spots up from the left circle, his one-timer is powerful — the kind of shot that Jackets coach Brad Larsen compared to Alex Ovechkin, who is widely considered one of the best shooters in the league.
But though Laine hasn’t yet scored on the power play this season, he was instrumental to the unit’s success before his injury. His shot has to be respected by opposing penalty killers, which opens up passing and shooting lanes for the other four skaters.
It is unknown when Laine will return. Before he got hurt on Nov. 3, the Jackets scored six power-play goals in nine games, all of them by the top unit with Laine, Zach Werenski, Jakub Voracek, Oliver Bjorkstrand and Boone Jenner. Since then, they’ve scored just seven power-play goals in 19 games and have a conversion rate of just 15.2% — nearly 10% below the 25% success rate they had with Laine.
After a strong start to the season, the Jackets’ power play is now at 18.6% on the year, which ranks 17th in the NHL. Some of that regression would likely have happened anyway, but the loss of Laine has played a large role.
“Would Washington miss Ovechkin? It’s that type of shot,” Larsen said. “It’s a one-and-done shooter that of course you miss.”
The Jackets initially looked to Cole Sillinger to replace Laine on the left side. But unlike Laine, who shoots righthanded, Sillinger shoots left, which put him on his strong side, rather than his one-timer side.
After the new unit produced just two goals in five games, Yegor Chinakhov — also a left-handed shooter — took a turn in Laine’s spot, but it didn’t take long for
Columbus to again look for other options.
Against Winnipeg on Nov. 24, the Jackets moved defenseman Adam Boqvist into the role. The modern powerplay trend is to have four forwards and one defenseman on a unit, but as a right-handed shooter and a mobile skater, Boqvist presented an interesting option on the left half-wall.
It was immediately effective. The Jackets scored one power-play goal on three chances in that game, and the mobility Boqvist added helped open things up and create options.
“You can’t replace Patty with how he shoots the puck,” Werenski said. “No one can go in there and be Patrik Laine. But for us to have Boqvist there and (Voracek), we talked about having a lot of switching and moving up top . ... We were kind of all over the place, and I think as a penalty kill it’s hard to defend that way.”
But after scoring four goals on 15 chances in eight games with Boqvist on the top unit, Boqvist suffered an injury and hasn’t played since Dec. 9. The last time the Jackets scored a power-play goal was one game before that.
They went 0 for 2 on Dec. 9 against Anaheim, 0 for 2 on Dec. 11 against Seattle, 0 for 1 on Tuesday against Vancouver and 0 for 3 on Thursday against Edmonton. Four games is the longest Columbus has gone without a power-play goal this season.
Gregory Hofmann took a turn on the left half-wall in Seattle, and in Vancouver Bjorkstrand moved from his usual spot in the middle to the left side, which had the potential to be effective as Bjorkstrand is a right-hand shot.
With only one opportunity against the Canucks, the unit didn’t have many chances to test its effectiveness, so Larsen kept them together early against the Oilers.
But by the second power-play chance of that game, Bjorkstrand was back in the middle, and Chinakhov had come back in on the left side as the Jackets once again sought an answer to their power-play woes. bjohnson@dispatch.com @baileyajohnson_