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The Buzzer: Patrik Laine ends 15-game goal drought

Winnipeg Jets v Montreal Canadiens

MONTREAL, QC - FEBRUARY 07: Patrik Laine #29 of the Winnipeg Jets skates against the Montreal Canadiens during the NHL game at the Bell Centre on February 7, 2019 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Winnipeg Jets 5-2. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Three Stars

1. Patrik Laine, Winnipeg Jets. Winnipeg Jets forward Patrik Laine entered Friday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights stuck in one of the worst slumps of his young career. He had not scored a goal in 15 consecutive games and recorded just four assists during that stretch. Consider the slump now over. He scored a pair of goals for the Jets in their 6-3 win over the Golden Knights to reclaim the top spot, for now, in the Central Division by jumping back ahead of the Nashville Predators. The Jets still have two games in hand as well. Even with Laine’s goal drought he still has 27 goals in 61 games, which is still a 36-goal pace over 82 games. Just shows how good he is when he is at his best that he can go 15 games in a row without scoring a goal and still have a good chance to score more than 35 goals in a season. He was not the only Jets player to snap goal drought on Friday. Adam Lowry also scored to snap what had been a 17-game goal slump, and they ended their droughts by scoring just 27 seconds apart.

2. J.T. Compher, Colorado Avalanche. The Colorado Avalanche picked up two huge points and won for the fourth time in their past five games by defeating the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night. J.T. Compher was one of the stars of the night for Avalanche and was one of two players (Carl Soderberg being the other) to score a pair of goals. Compher’s second goal was the big one as it went in the books as the game-winner with just under six minutes to play in regulation, giving the Avalanche their third win in a row and fourth win in the past five games.

3. T.J. Brodie, Calgary Flames. The Calgary Flames increased their lead in the Pacific Division to three points over the San Jose Sharks thanks to a 2-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks. Defender T.J. Brodie played a pretty big role in the win by contributing to both goals, scoring one and assisting on the game-winner.

Highlights of the Night

The save of the night belongs to Minnesota Wild forward (Yes! Forward!) Mikael Granlund for stepping up in net after this turnover by Devan Dubnyk. It helped lead to a huge win for the Wild in the Western Conference Wild Card race.

In more traditional saves, this stop by Anaheim Ducks goalie Ryan Miller was also pretty impressive.

Matt Duchene did not record a point in his debut with the Columbus Blue Jackets but he did play extremely well in their 3-0 win over the Ottawa Senators. He also received a video tribute and a standing ovation from Senators fans. His time with the team may not have gone as planned on a team level, but he was still very good in parts of two seasons with the team.

Factoids


  • Sergei Bobrovsky recorded the shutout for the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday night, giving him 16 since the start of the 2016-17 season, tying him for the most in the NHL during that stretch with Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. [NHL PR]
  • It came in a losing effort but Patrick Kane extended his point streak to 20 games for the Chicago Blackhawks, making him the seventh player in NHL history to have multiple 20-game point streaks. [NHL PR]
  • Winnipeg Jets coach Paul Maurice won his 685th regular season game on Friday night and moved into sole possession of eighth place on the NHL’s all-time coaching wins list. [NHL PR]
  • Carl Soderberg of the Colorado Avalanche became the ninth player in NHL history to record his first 20-goal season after their 33rd birthday. [NHL PR]
  • Speaking of which, this is the first time since the 2006-07 season that the Colorado Avalanche have had at least four 20-goal scorers in a single season. Nathan MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Gabriel Landeskog are the other three this season. [NHL PR]

Scores

Columbus Blue Jackets 3, Ottawa Senators 0

Colorado Avalanche 5, Chicago Blackhawks 3

Minnesota Wild 3, Detroit Red Wings 2

Calgary Flames 2, Anaheim Ducks 1

Winnipeg Jets 6, Vegas Golden Knights 3

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.