The sixth hat trick of his career, the second that he’s had this month, two of the three goals coming during five on five situations which was the biggest critique fans and media had of Laine’s overall play thus far this season.

Dare we say this hat trick from Patrik Laine was even a little bit better than the one he had a couple of weeks ago in Finland? Probably not – it was his home country after all – but this one maybe put a few concerns to bed as he’s suddenly now on pace for a 45 goal season.

And of course all this with the backdrop of Patrik Laine having infamously taking the Canucks to task before the beginning of the season for banning Fortnite (and video games as a whole) on the road. The Canucks didn’t appriciate Laine sticking his opinions where they felt it didn’t belong and vowed to fired up against him.

Instead, Laine likely had the Canucks begging for some heals after he was done sniping away on Monday night.

Oh, you mean this one?

Anyway, to start summing this goal up, firstly: LOLCanucks

Second: A theme you’ll note in all three of these goals is the role Kyle Connor plays in getting Laine his hat trick as hes really established himself as a quality line driver, one that the Jets are hoping he’s able to take a role with as it was lack of a driver that doomed the Little/Connor/Laine line last season. And as much as this goal was a result of a Canucks mistake, that mistake doesn’t happen if the Jets weren’t as hard on the forecheck as they had been through the first thirty minutes of play.

If goal one was all about the forecheck, goal two is about the backcheck as the Jets quickly recover a Canucks shot from distance and within two seconds are charging back the other way. Kyle Connor again leading the rush with a sweet drop pass to Bryan Little and then Little puts it on a tee for Laine.

Also worth noting is the reaction of Ray Ferarro who was working color for the TSN Jets broadcast (something we wish he would do a lot more often) and the high praise he gives the unit for their goal. Ray Ferraro watches a LOT of hockey, so for this goal to seemingly take his breath away in a very natural reaction… You know you just saw something pretty special.

There will be a segment of fans who will mock empty net goals because of the general overall lack of a challenge they pose in scoring them. Anyone who watched this game and witnessed Mark Scheifele and Blake Wheeler both missing chances to score about ten feet away from an empty net a minute earlier would laugh at such a notion.

Again, Kyle Connor setting things up and how the Canucks didn’t just decide to outright tackle Laine before he even got the puck is kind of beyond me. Of all the guys to score three on you, it’s the 20 year old kid who mocked the shit out of you for banning video games? Straight up embarrassing for the Canucks really.

Laine by the way now has four goals this season against the Canucks this season in their first two games and seven goals in seven career games against Vancouver. It kinda makes you wonder what he’ll have in store for them December 22 when the Jets return to the west coast for their third and final meeting of the season.

While you contemplate that, you can look back at our recap of last night’s Jets game in Vancouver, a very entertaining 6-3 win over the Canucks.