Blue Jackets’ Laine looking for scoring touch
When it comes to the art form of selfdeprecation, Patrik Laine is unmatched in the NHL.
Nobody is quicker to offer criticism of his play, nobody is harsher in doling it out and there are times when nobody within earshot can believe what tumbles out of his mouth. Take, for example, Laine’s thoughts this past weekend about Blue Jackets teammate Kirill Marchenko, who has rapidly climbed to second in the NHL rookie goal-scoring ranks with 14 in 34 games.
“It’s definitely not easy to score in this league, and he’s been scoring quite a bit,” Laine said. “He’s been finding the right areas and sometimes getting the right bounces ... but it gets harder when you score a lot.”
Eight goals shy of 200 in just his seventh season, Laine ought to know.
“I’ve been there,” he said. “I’m not anymore, but I used to be … when I actually scored goals.” The small group of reporters huddled in Dallas when he said that couldn’t help but chuckle, knowing what the 24-yearold Finnish forward is capable of doing on a hot streak. In fact, the very next night, Laine would blast one of his patented one-timers to force overtime in Arizona.
His search for consistency in goalscoring is ongoing, but Laine is the same guy who netted 36 goals for the Winnipeg Jets as a rookie in 2016-17 and followed it with 44 the next season. He’s the same dude with 10 NHL hat tricks,
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including one this season, who also ripped off a scorching stretch last year of 16-11-27 in just 17 games.
Laine had scored only one goal in a nine-game span before Sunday, which prompted his lament.
“It just gets harder and harder,” he said. “Teams are going to pay attention to you more, so at that point, you’ve just got to work on your toolbox and try to create more ways to score.”
Laine has done that the past two seasons by utilizing his playmaking skills when goals aren’t happening. He still launches shots in high quantities, but finding his teammates for assists is the reason he’s creeping up on a point-pergame average with 16-19-35 in 42 games. Since Jan. 10, he’s averaging more than a point per game with 7-12-19 in 18 contests.
Not scoring goals, however, eats at him. That became clear in Dallas, when asked if his recent dip in goals frustrated him.
“No, not at all,” Laine deadpanned. “I used to be a goal-scorer. That was fun, back in the day.
“I’ll still score every now and then, but, I mean, sometimes it goes in and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s been one of those years, but it’s not going to come without the work. So, I’ve got to put the work in. You can’t just wait for somebody to give it to you.”