Jets’ second line has some work to do in its own end, Little says

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This article was published 31/01/2019 (2411 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The escalating public angst over Patrik Laine’s recent scoring woes is lost entirely on his veteran linemate.

In fact, the 20-year-old winger deserves a break, says Winnipeg Jets centre Bryan Little says.

“For a player, it seems way overblown,” Little said this morning, after Winnipeg’s game-day morning skate. “He had a month where he had 18 goals and I think people expect that from him every month. He’s young and he’s going to go through stretches where he’s really hot and stretches where he’s struggling to find the back of the net, and that’s understandable.”

Laine has gone five games without a goal and has just one in Winnipeg’s last 12. His next tally will be his 26th of the season, and his first crack comes tonight when the Jets battle the Columbus Blue Jackets. Game time at Bell MTS Place is 7 p.m.

Laine fired three goals in October and then had a ridiculous November with 18 tallies, but he’s only scored four goals since, including a lone maker this month (Jan. 13 in a 4-3 OT victory over Anaheim).

“If you had months like he had, you’d have 100 goals every year. People expect a lot out of him and I think that’s where the pressure’s coming from right now. We know what kind of player he is and what he’s capable of, and he’s still developing so it’s understandable.

The Jets (32-16-2) are in first place in the Central Division, two points up on the Nashville Predators with a pair of games in hand. They earned a 4-3 shootout victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday, snapping a two-game losing streak.

The Blue Jackets (28-18-3) hold down the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference but have lost their last three games.

No.1 goalie Connor Hellebuyck occupies the crease tonight for Winnipeg, which was 0-1-1 against the Metropolitan Division squad last season. Columbus counters with netminder Sergei Bobrovsky.

Winnipeg head coach Paul Maurice will go with the same collection of skaters that combined on a third-period rally in Boston — highlighted by two quick goals from Kyle Connor — before edging the Bruins on the strength of Connor’s shootout marker.

And no alterations to either the forward lines or defensive pairings are expected.

Laine, playing the left side on a second forward unit with Little and right-winger Jack Roslovic (who hails from Columbus), has been maligned recently not just for his lack of scoring, but also some weak defensive play. He wasn’t even credited with a shot attempt in Boston and finished a minus-one on a night when he received just 10 minutes, 55 seconds of ice time.

Maurice told reporters Laine’s benching was by no means punative; it was more in reaction to a grinding game against a tough, bruising Bruins squad, requiring a heavy workload for third-liners Adam Lowry and Brandon Tanev.

But did Laine see the move as a message to him?

“I don’t know. I’m not him, so it’s hard to say, but probably that we just need to play better. We can’t get scored on every game. That’s something we need to work on a lot as a line,” said Laine. “They can’t put us out there if we get scored on every time, so I get that.”

Little said the entire trio stunk on the two-game trip to Boston and Philadelphia (a 3-1 loss to the Flyers at Wells Fargo Arena).

“It’s not just him. I’m on a line with him and we’ve given up a few goals the last couple of games and it’s something we’ve talked about. We have to be better in our own end as a line, and better on that side of the puck. For some reason, his name just gets thrown in there but it’s all five guys on the ice, me included, having to be better,” he said.

There’s hasn’t been much noticeable chemistry between the two since Laine’s stick went cold prior to Christmas, yet Little’s been a fairly consistent producer with five goals and added five assists this month.

The danger is forcing things with a weapon like Laine when a play really isn’t there to be made, Little said.

“You kind of get away from your own game and what you’re trying to do, and you’re trying to squeeze passes that aren’t there to him and it kind of works the opposite way. If I see him, I’ll definitely make more of an effort to try and get him the puck than maybe other guys, but at the same time you don’t want to be giving pucks away and just throwing stuff at him all night. There’s a fine line,” he said.

Some words of encouragement from the 12-year NHL veteran certainly can’t hurt during Laine’s mid-season crisis, either.

“You try and keep him positive. He’s pretty hard on himself and he’s his toughest critic. He’s going through a drought — well at least a drought for him,” said Little. “Almost every young player faces that. They want to go out and do well and score every night, and when that doesn’t happen you get squeezing the stick and get negative. That kind of creeps into other parts of your game.

“We’ve got a young team and (players) learn how to work through these things, and you try to be there for him and keep him positive.”

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Dustin Byfuglien (lower body) and winger Nikolaj Ehlers (upper body) got in an early skate before the rest of their teammates today.

While Maurice said the defenceman is listed now as day-to-day, he’s a longshot to participate Saturday when the Anaheim Ducks visit town.

Ehlers, meanwhile, likely won’t return to the lineup for another week to 10 days.

Nic Petan and Sami Niku will be the healthy scratches again tonight.

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Columbus coach John Tortorella shredded his team this morning for its performance at home to Buffalo on Tuesday night. The Sabres built a 3-1 first-period lead before the Blue Jackets tied it 4-4 on Cam Atkinson’s 28th goal of the year late in the middle frame. Conor Sheary notched the winner early in the third for the visitors.

The always-entertaining bench boss was still seeing red 40 hours later.

“It’s a good team we’re playing, and it was a gawd-awful team that I coached the other night, so hopefully we’ll answer the proper way… they better or they’ll get their ass kicked, ” he said, ahead of tonight’s game.

“It was a team that threw their uniforms out to play… played with absolutely no balls at all. The team needs to be reset pretty quickly.”

Columbus will be without its second-line centre Boone Jenner. Team GM Jarmo Kekalainen said today Jenner has an infected cut on his ankle and could be out for one to three week. He was cut after blocking a shot Jan. 12, and the infection just flared up earlier this week.

 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell