The Patrik Laine show is in town. And he is worth the entry ticket.
Last night, he continued to demonstrate that he is a leading sniper by scoring three (identical) power play goals in a big 6-1 victory for the Canadian against the Sabres.
A bit like Alex Ovechkin, big scorers manage to create space by doing the same thing every night. It’s impressive.
It’s crazy to see that in seven games, he has six goals. And even if he “scored” at even strength at the start of the match (before the decision was overturned), his six true goals were scored on the power play.
CH has four victories when it scores and three losses when it does not score. And for seven games, no one other than Laine has found the back of the net on the power play.
The sample is small, but still: it’s striking to see that.
By force of circumstances, this means that Laine, at five against five, is not the biggest factor for the Canadian. No one is worried about that (or his -5 differential) at the moment… except the main person concerned, who found that his match was “average” last night. And except Philippe Boucher.
Laine, after the game, said he had played hundreds of better games where he didn’t score.
I understand what he means, in the sense that he couldn’t find his legs… but I’ll take that three-goal power play game before many other games.
With Lane Hutson and Patrik Laine being new additions to the first power play, let’s say it energizes the Canadian’s attack. But more than that: the guys make amateurs happy.
To see that Laine (who has as many goals as in 18 games last year in Columbus) has recovered so well from his injuries must make management happy, who accepted a second draft pick with his services against Jordan Harris… and Laine’s salary.
CH’s fourth top scorer this year (!) obviously brings a breath of fresh air that the club needed. And that’s good for the famous mix– ah and let it happen.
Since the time Flannel has been looking for a player of the type to applaud…
But hey. That’s not all we should remember from this match, which will nevertheless allow many CH fans to be in a good mood a week before Christmas.
What am I remembering?
1. Juraj Slafkovsky, who played with Laine earlier this month, found the back of the net for a third time this season. Laine did that in just one match… but hey.
And after the match he found a way to be arrogant towards the journalists.
It’s good for our stats, so you’ll like it. You talk about the stats so our power play is going to go up. –Juraj Slafkovsky
Recall that earlier this week, Slaf mentioned not caring about the opinions of journalists. He criticized the fact that everything was good during victories and everything was dark during defeats.
It’s best not to waste all his arrogance cartridges too quickly, so people don’t become too cynical towards him. But at the same time, what do I know…
It’s huge, I mark once a month, hopefully it will start to come in a little more. –Juraj Slafkovsky
At least it’s good to see he scored. It will do him good.
Let’s also mention that he said that his ovation during his hat trick last season was louder than Laine’s last night. It’s fair game, I think.
2. Colleague Marc-Olivier Cook is right: it was not Samuel Montembeault and Arber Xhekaj who were most talked about yesterday, but they did what they had to do.
It takes that, sometimes.
3. The owner of the Sabres, on Monday, made a return trip to Montreal to speak to his players. The fact that he didn’t stay long may mean, as Renaud Lavoie said this morning at BPM Sports, that the guys take him more or less seriously.
Result? 11 losses in a row… and apart from a few minutes at the start of the second period, we cannot say that the Sabers were in control of the match. Really not, even. #Laziness
4. Martin St-Louis, while it was 6-1 at the end of the match, decided not to send his first wave of power play. Even Patrik Laine, who could have made history with four goals in a match in power playremained seated.
That’s classy.
5. Kirby Dach missed the end of the first period after a nasty fall and physically, he had a difficult match. He hasn’t been perfect as a hockey player either.
When you see Nick Suzuki play and all the details of his game, it’s clear that the difference is obvious between the two guys.
6. Besides Slaf and Laine, Joel Armia and Josh Anderson also found the back of the net. But even though CH scored six times and the club dominated, there were only 27 shots on net, six more than the Sabres.
It’s not much.
7. Casually, the CH victory means that it is now the Sabers who are at the bottom of the standings in the East. Martin St-Louis’ men have a game in hand over those of Lindy Ruff, in addition.
The CH currently has the fifth best chances of winning the lottery.
Prolongation
The Canadian will train at 11:30 a.m. this morning, near Brossard. The next game is Friday in Detroit, which means the club will leave tomorrow after club practice.
There are three games left before Christmas: Friday at Detroit, Saturday at home against the same Red Wings and December 23 at Columbus.
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