Laine thrills Finns: Hat trick leads Jets
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 Helsinki, 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 back-to-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 onetimer 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 38- 36, 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.”
Laine, whose 44 goals were second to Alex Ovechkin’s 49 last season, had just three goals and two assists in 12 games. CANADIENS 6, CAPITALS 4 » Max Domi broke a tie with 21 seconds left and Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored his first two NHL goals in Montreal’s victory over Washington.
At 18 years and 118 days, Kotkaniemi became the second-youngest goal scorer in franchise history.
The Canadiens added two goals in an NHL-record two seconds. RED WINGS 4, DEVILS 3 » Justin Abdelkader scored a short-handed goal midway through the third period and Trevor Daley put the puck in an empty net for another short-handed score in the final minute, helping Detroit beat New Jersey to extend their season-high-winning streak to three games. FLAMES 6, AVALANCHE 5 » Mark Giordano had a goal and two assists, and Calgary scored five straight times in the third period to rally past Colorado Avalanche.
BLUES5, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3 » Oskar Sundqvist scored two rare goals to lead St. Louis past Vegas.
Vladimir Tarasenko, Tyler Bozak and Colton Parayko also scored for the Blues. Jake Allen stopped 31 shots for his first win against Vegas after going 0- 0-2 last season. STARS 2, MAPLE LEAFS 1 » Dallas backup goalie Anton Khudobin made 30 saves to help Dallas beat Toronto. ISLANDERS 3, PENGUINS 2 » Josh Bailey scored a shorthanded goal in the second period and then the only goal in a shootout to lift New York over Pittsburgh. PREDATORS 4, LIGHTNING 1» Pekka Rinne made 42 saves in his return after missing five games with an injury, and Nashville beat Tampa Bay. SENATORS 4, SABRES 2 » Craig Anderson made 21 of his 46 saves in the third period and Ottawa held off Buffalo. OILERS 4, BLACKHAWKS 0 » Mikko Koskinen made 40 saves for his first career NHL shutout, Drake Caggiula scored twice and Edmonton beat Chicago.