A Little defence for Laine

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This article was published 31/01/2019 (2410 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, who is, in the figurative sense, a reliably straight shooter.

“For a player, it seems way overblown,” Little said Thursday, hours before the Jets’ 4-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Bell MTS Place. “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.”

The struggles continue for Laine, who flexed his shooting muscles in 16:22 of ice time against the Blue Jackets with six shot attempts and two shots on net.

The Finnish-born forward has no goals in six games and has just one in 13. His next tally will be his 26th of the season. He fired three goals in October and then had a ridiculous November with 18, but he’s only scored four goals since, including a lone marker this month (Jan. 13 in a 4-3 OT victory over the Anaheim Ducks).

“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,” said Little.

“We know what kind of player he is and what he’s capable of, and he’s still developing, so it’s understandable.”

Playing the left side on a second forward unit with Little and right-winger Jack Roslovic, Laine has been maligned recently not just for his lack of scoring but also weak defensive play. He wasn’t credited with a shot attempt Tuesday in Boston and finished a minus-one on a night when he received just 10:55 of ice time against the Bruins.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice said Laine’s benching was by no means punitive; it was more a reaction to a grinding game against a tough, bruising Bruins squad, requiring a heavy workload for third-liners Adam Lowry and Brandon Tanev.

Did Laine interpret the move as a stern message?

“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,” Laine said Thursday morning.

“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,” said Little.

Little, who set up Kyle Connor’s game-winner Thursday, has been aligned with Laine for the bulk of the season. There hasn’t been much noticeable chemistry between the two since Laine’s stick went cold prior to Christmas.

Little has 20 assists this season, with nine on goals from Laine. Four were generated on just one special night, Laine’s five-goal performance in St. Louis on Nov. 24.

Perhaps, a separation would be best for all parties and new partnerships forged by Maurice.

Across the league, Laine and 17 others had reached or eclipsed the 25-goal mark heading into Thursday’s light NHL schedule. The majority has a bona fide play-maker alongside, including Jets’ centre Mark Scheifele. Scheifele ripped his 26th of the season to open the scoring against the Blue Jackets. His compadre, right-winger Blake Wheeler, set the table on the play with his 54th assist.

Take a look elsewhere: Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, who leads the NHL with 37 goals, has gifted passer Nicklas Backstrom (38 assists) feeding him nightly; Tampa Bay Lightning centre Brayden Point has league assist leader (57A) Nikita Kucherov as the gift that keeps on giving; Buffalo Sabres star left-winger Jeff Skinner has supplied 31 goals and he’s got Jack Eichel (37A) up the middle; Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche has 29 goals and he’s on a line with centre Nathan MacKinnon (44A).

Little wants to be the originator for one of the NHL’s premier finishers and still believes productive days are ahead. But he said forcing things — even with a weapon like Laine nearby — when a play isn’t there can come with a hefty cost.

“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,” said Little.

“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.”

As the slump persists, some words of encouragement from the 12-year veteran certainly can’t hurt during Laine’s mid-season crisis.

“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.”

 

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell