Maurice lauds Laine's stellar night: 'I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner'
Patrik Laine's five-goal outburst versus the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night will go down in the annals of NHL history, and the superstar's efforts were not lost on Winnipeg Jets head coach Paul Maurice.
"To be honest with you, I'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner," Maurice told reporters following the 8-4 win. "I think I said that once and I (try to) keep it to myself, but on the nights that he's scored his three, he's had his chances to get so much more.
"Some of those goals you just gotta sit back and smile if you're standing on the right bench."
Laine's legendary performance marked his third hat-trick of November and launched him into first place in the league's goal-scoring race with 19 through 22 games. He's the first player since Johan Franzen in 2011 to record five goals in a single game, and now sits at 99 for his young career, putting him on the precipice of becoming the seventh player in NHL history to hit the century mark before turning 21, per NHL Public Relations.
Despite stealing the show with a career night, Laine insists nothing extraordinary was going through his mind in the process.
"Just try to score and try not to celly so hard," he said.