Dec 18, 2024, 12:14 AM ET
MONTREAL — Patrik Laine posted his first hat trick with the Montreal Canadiens, as his club extended the Buffalo Sabres’ winless streak to 11 games with a 6-1 victory on Tuesday night.
Juraj Slafkovsky, Joel Armia and Josh Anderson also scored for Montreal while Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Lane Hutson provided two assists each and Sam Montembeault stopped 20 shots.
It’s been a long road for Laine, who made his Montreal debut earlier this month. He sat out the season’s first two months with a knee injury after an offseason trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets in August, following Laine’s request to be traded out of that organization.
“He’s been working hard, coming to the rink every day, trying to get better,” Montreal captain Nick Suzuki said of Laine. “He’s been doing the right things over and over again, and I’m happy that he got rewarded.”
Laine was skating in his second preseason game for Montreal in September when he collided knee-on-knee with Toronto Maple Leafs forward Cedric Pare. While Laine said at the time the injury “could have been much worse,” it still set him up for a lengthy recovery.
Laine, 26, was limited to just 18 games last season while rehabbing a broken clavicle and then while spending time in the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program from January to July. That makes Tuesday’s outing the first regular-season game for Laine in almost 365 days.
He has had some form of injury nearly every year since the Winnipeg Jets selected him second overall in the 2016 NHL draft. Despite that history Laine made the most of his time in Columbus, averaging a point per game over two seasons from 2021-23.
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But his start with the Canadiens has been strong. He now has six goals, and all three on Tuesday night came on Montreal power plays. It was the 11th time in his career that he’s recorded a hat trick, and despite missing the start of the season, Laine is already tied for fourth in goals on the Canadiens.
“We were talking about passion (for the game) this morning, I think that answered it right there,” Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said, when asked about Laine’s enthusiasm for being on the Canadiens. “When a player has that love, that passion, they’re going to work a lot harder at it. They’re going to commit to everything.”
Dylan Cozens scored for struggling Buffalo and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 15 saves on 21 shots. Backup James Reimer stopped all six shots that he faced after entering to start the third.
The loss came a day after Sabres owner Terry Pegula flew to Montreal for a team meeting.
Armia scored only 19 seconds into the game, capitalizing on a wide-open net after Sabres defenseman Owen Power mishandled the puck off the end boards.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
