Winnipeg Jets: Did Media Hype Up Laine's Mistake?
“You just hate to see a guy feel that way after a game. He’s 18 years old.”
Words of the Winnipeg Jets captain Blake Wheeler following what we could say without a drop of uncertainty as the biggest mistake on the ice in the NHL this season.
“What happened”
Sometimes questions aren’t meant to be answered. Laine put it in his own net, no media man had to ask him this.
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When you look at the grand scheme of things, will this goal ever matter? Not to Laine himself it won’t. Sure with every mistake the loss column takes over from the win column for the Jets, and every time the loss column grows, a percentage drops. That’s the chance of the Winnipeg Jets making the playoffs.
Ultimately, the Winnipeg Jets are on a four game losing streak. A game can’t be lost without mistakes. Whether those mistakes were missed shootout attempts, a shot that should be saved 99 out of 100 times that was let in, a stupid penalty, or even a lone goal, they all still account towards the same cause. Picking on Drew Stafford for a stupid high-sticking penalty late in a game wouldn’t seem right for the media to do, so they must pick on a more impactful mistake.
On Sunday at 11:30 PM on SportsCentre and on Twitter Feeds, no one was interested in the fact that Patrik Laine has scored a team leading 17 goals this season, and without him, the Jets would no doubt be last in the Central Division. If one goal against is talked about more than 17 goals for, people aren’t looking at the situation in the right light.
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A rebound came off Connor Hellebuyck pad straight off the stick of Mark Letestu. (Of course Letestu, who’s scored nearly 75% of his goals this season against the Jets alone.) Laine was then caught in the middle of the slot with the puck on his stick, one minute left. It’s hard to imagine Laine has ever been in a situation like this one aside from in the offensive zone. Laine knew the Oilers would be draped all over top of him if he held onto the puck for longer than a few milliseconds. A split-second decision was made to throw the puck into what he considered the corner, and hopefully play the percentages that a Winnipeg defensemen could break it out of their end. The percentages went the exact other way, and Laine’s clearing landed smack-dab in the middle of his own net
It was one game, and one goal. Laine will be in one thousand more games, and hopefully score 500 more goals. If that’s the case, and it surely will be, this small blip in the road for Laine should be forgotten as quick as possible.
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