It took the young Finn a while to get going, but in the third period, when his team needed him, he unloaded a wicked wrist-shot on the power-play to help the Jets reduce the Hurricanes lead to 4-3 about 30 seconds after captain Blake wheeler scored a short-handed goal to make it 4-2. A couple of minutes later and Matthew Perrault scored with just over a minute remaining in the third period, with an assist from Laine, to tie the game and allow Blake wheeler to feed Mark Scheifele the cross-crease pass for the win in overtime.
Starting Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck was weak in net. There was two goals he should have had and even Ondrej Pavelec would have made those saves. I'm afraid without the comeback by the Jets and timely goals by Laine, Perrault and Wheeler, this would have been an embarrassing loss.But as it is, Patrik Laine has his first NHL goal out of the way with many more to come, I'm sure. The more he gets comfortable with his new teammates and his role, the Alexander Ovechkin comparisons may continue.
