The Winnipeg Jets kicked their 2018-19 campaign off with a huge 5-1 win against the St. Louis Blues last night and team sniper Patrik Laine wasted no time getting on the board.
The Finn opened up the scoring with a heavy wrister from the top of the left circle to give the Jets an early lead, later adding an assist on a tipped-in goal by Kyle Connor to end the evening with two assists. In a sense, the reigning 44-goal-scorer lifted a monkey off of his back after he finished his preseason with zero goals to his name. When asked about his forward’s goal, Jets head coach Paul Maurice expressed that Laine was starting to take the whole scoring drought thing pretty seriously…
… Maybe a bit too seriously.
Now there’s the sign of a true goal-scorer right there!
If you were watching last night’s game and thought to yourself “hey, that Laine guy looks a little different,” well, it’s because he did! The forward worked tirelessly over the summer to shed nearly 15 pounds and appeared to have a bit of an extra kick to his game.
EA Sports recently predicted the 20-year-old would capture the Rocket Richard Trophy and it’s safe to say he’s off to a pretty nice start.
(H/T Frank Seravalli)
