Columbus Blue Jackets' self-roasting Patrik Laine: 'I used to be a goal-scorer'
When it comes to the art form of self-deprecation, 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-year-old 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 goal-scoring 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, 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-per-game 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 faceoffs.
The Blue Jackets' coaching staff is also trying to impart that Laine at 6-foot-5, 205 pounds can help his team win games in ways other than goals and assists.
“This is where he gets a bad rap for body language and different things,” head coach Brad Larsen said. “He really cares about how he’s playing and he’s his hardest critic. He really is. He gets down and that’s something we’re trying to coach out of him, like, ‘There’s other ways to impact the game.’"
Examples include using his size and skating to win puck battles, track down loose pucks and make life tough for opposing defensemen around the net — which Larsen noticed him doing in the third period of the Blue Jackets' 4-3 victory earlier this month in Toronto.
"The first half of the game was a struggle for him offensively," Larsen said. "They were checking and he wasn’t getting much out of it. By the third period, we’d adjusted some lines and he started throwing the body. He was getting to the goal line, he was doing all the right things that you want to manage the game. So, we talked about it. ‘You just impacted the game in the right way. You didn’t score and that’s OK.’"
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.”
Columbus Blue Jackets improving puck possession
The Blue Jackets are still leaning on their goalies, but they’ve begun to help Joonas Korpisalo and Elvis Merzlikins with better puck possession.
Since losing to the Washington Capitals 4-3 in overtime Jan. 31, they’ve ranked 19th in the NHL with a 48.7% Corsi (5-on-5 attempts) and 16th with a 50.3% Fenwick (unblocked attempts). They’ve also put more shots on goal (188-179), broken even in goals (13-13) and posted a 3-2-2 record despite continued disadvantages in scoring chances (154-176) and high-danger chances (54-71).
In 45 games before this stretch, they ranked 30th in goals (78-121, 39.2%) and 29th in Corsi (45.3%), Fenwick (45.2%) and shots (44.8%).
“We just play with more of a calm and professional game,” forward Mathieu Olivier said. “We don’t make as many mistakes, we make better decisions with the puck and we hold onto pucks longer. We’ve simplified a lot, and at this point with our team, we’ve got to start there and then eventually add to it.”
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Blue Jackets' Patrik Laine searching for scoring touch
