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Patrik Laine has gone through some considerable struggles already in his career, but when he’s on, you’d be hard pressed to find a better goal scorer in the league. Lately he’s been the driving force of the Blue Jackets and he was again on Tuesday, scoring two goals including the overtime winner to lift Columbus past the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Laine is up to 12 goals and 20 points over the course of his current 10-game point streak. That streak started on Jan. 27 and no player has recorded more points than Laine over that span. Overall this season Laine has been held back somewhat due to injury, but he still has an impressive 18 goals and 35 points in 31 contests. Oh yeah, and he can become a restricted free agent this summer, so as you can imagine, there’s some interesting negotiations ahead there.
Things are pretty interesting for the Blue Jackets now too. Before Laine began his current hot streak, Columbus was 18-21-1. Now they’re 26-23-1. They’re still a longshot to make the playoffs given that they’re nine points behind the Boston Bruins in the fight for the final Wild Card spot and gaining ground is so difficult in the era of three-point games. Still, there is some outside hope there if the Blue Jackets can keep playing like this.
Columbus and Laine have a big test ahead of them with road games against two of the league’s top teams in Florida and Carolina on Thursday and Friday respectively.
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NASHVILLE 6 FLORIDA 4
The Panthers blew 3-1 and 4-3 leads in this contest. That was in part due to Nashville’s Tanner Jeannot, who scored two goals in the third period, including a shorthanded marker. Jeannot has 17 goals and 31 points in 51 contests.
Filip Forsberg also played a big role for the Predators with a goal and two assists. He has 26 goals and 44 points in 48 games.
David Rittich stopped 44 of 48 Panthers shots. He faced 20 shots in the second period alone.
Sam Reinhart scored a goal and registered an assist for Florida. He’s up to 18 goals and 49 points in 48 games.
Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 27 of 32 shots on Tuesday. That ended his personal six-game winning streak, giving him his first loss since Jan. 23.
COLUMBUS 4 TORONTO 3 (OT)
This was a back-and-forth game where neither team ever led by more than a goal. In the end though, it was Patrik Laine that got the last word. He scored the Blues Jackets’ first goal at 6:13 of the second period and then found the back of the net again in overtime. He’s up to 18 goals and 35 points in 31 contests.
Zach Werenski assisted on two of Columbus’ four goals. That gives him eight goals and 33 points in 48 games.
Auston Matthews scored a goal and registered two assists for Toronto. He has 34 goals and 62 points in 47 contests.
Jack Campbell stopped 26 of 30 shots last night. This is the third time in the span of five starts that Campbell has allowed at least four goals.
At the other end of the ice, J-F Berube saved 39 of 42 shots. With Elvis Merzlikins and Joonas Korpisalo both unavailable, Berube was making his second NHL start of the season.
OTTAWA 4 MINNESOTA 3
Thomas Chabot was a game-time decision because of an upper-body injury, but he ended up playing and being a huge factor in the Senators’ victory. He scored two goals and registered an assist, giving him five goals and 27 points in 46 games.
Connor Brown assisted on two of the Senators’ four goals. That gives him seven goals and 27 points in 36 games.
Anton Forsberg saved 40 of 43 Wild shots. The Senators were outshot 19-8 in the second period, but the Wild only outscored Ottawa 2-1 over that frame.
Kevin Fiala contributed a goal and an assist for Minnesota. He’s up to 17 goals and 42 points in 48 games.
Cam Talbot stopped 30 of 34 shots on Tuesday. That’s the third straight start where Talbot has surrendered at least four goals.
ST. LOUIS 4 PHILADELPHIA 1
This game was closer than it looks. Vladimir Tarasenko scored the game-winning goal at 8:51 of the third period. The score remained at 2-1 until the final minute of the contest when the Blues added a pair of empty netters.
Ivan Barbashev provided the Blues with a goal and an assist. He’s up to 16 goals and 36 points in 49 contests.
Jordan Binnington stopped 25 of 26 shots last night. It was a solid bounce back game for him after he allowed a combined 18 goals over his previous three starts.
The Flyers’ lone goal was scored by Oskar Lindblom. It was his eighth goal and 19th point in 50 contests.
Martin Jones turned aside 22 of 24 Blues shots. It was another loss for him, but at least he ended his stretch of seven straight games where he allowed at least three goals each time.
ANAHEIM 4 SAN JOSE 3 (SO)
James Reimer saved 26 of 29 shots in regulation time. He surrendered two goals in three shootout rounds and missed out on the extra point as a result.
Anthony Stolarz stopped 40 of 43 shots prior to the shootout. He was then perfect in two shootout rounds to pick up the win.
Rickard Rakell scored a pair of goals for the Ducks. That gives him 14 goals and 25 points in 43 games.
The Ducks’ other non-shootout goal was scored by Derek Grant. He’s up to eight goals and 14 points in 45 contests.
Logan Couture netted a pair of goals for San Jose. Brent Burns also had a big game for the Sharks with a goal and two assists.
NY ISLANDERS 5 SEATTLE 2
The Islanders jumped ahead with a 4-0 lead by 10:33 of the second period. Zach Parise played a huge role in New York’s success, scoring two goals and registering an assist. He has six goals and 19 points in 46 contests.
Kyle Palmieri, Brock Nelson, and Casey Cizikas accounted for the Islanders’ other three goals. For Nelson, it was his 18th goal and 27th point in 37 games.
Ilya Sorokin stopped 23 of 25 Kraken shots. He improved to 16-11-6 with a 2.43 GAA and .921 save percentage in 33 contests this season.
Riley Sheahan found the back of the net for Seattle. He has two goals and nine points in 40 games.
Philipp Grubauer kicked out 31 of 35 shots last night. He’s allowed at least three goals in four of his last five starts.
