Patrik Laine was celebrated with a shower of hats, but his third goal against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday was a complete effort from all five Winnipeg Jets skaters.
Here's how it happened
The play started with defenseman Tyler Myers (57), who slid the puck from behind his own net to partner Toby Enstrom (39).
With Stars center Tyler Seguin (91) bearing down on him, Enstrom chipped the puck off the boards as Winnipeg's forwards eyed a defensive zone exit.
Jets head coach Paul Maurice recently decided to load his first line with skilled forwards, and here's where it paid off.
Both Mark Scheifele (55) and Nikolaj Ehlers (27) were in position to gather the puck, but Scheifele as the center wisely deferred to Ehlers at the wing in order to spread things out and keep Dallas' defense on its toes.
Instead of dumping the puck deep into the offensive zone, Ehlers threaded a pass to Scheifele, who was able to cut between the defensive pairing of John Klingberg (3) and Esa Lindell (23) as a result of the winger carrying the play.
With the defense tracking the puck on the left side of the ice, Laine was left to get open on the right side, eagerly awaiting Scheifele's pass.
What's interesting to note here is that Patrik Nemeth (15) was on Laine's tail as a defenseman who's been forced to play forward as a result of a bevy of Dallas injuries up front.
Upon receiving the pass, Laine made no mistake, firing a wicked shot past a rather helpless Kari Lehtonen (32), who was pulled following this goal.
The goal was Laine's 11th in 14 games - a feat few have accomplished - and vaulted him to the top of the NHL leaderboard, while also boosting Scheifele's league-high point total.
It also served as a textbook example of how crisp puck movement and speed can lead to prime scoring chances, and the value of carrying the puck into the offensive zone as opposed to following the dump-and-chase model.
The NHL is trending more and more toward youth and skill, and both were in full display for the Jets on this one.
(Images courtesy: NHL.com)
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