WINNIPEG — For 48 hours an entire province stressed over a Finnish fibula.
Patrik Laine, the key sniper on the best Winnipeg Jets team since the ‘80s had hobbled off the ice Tuesday night, and yes, people here were FREAKING OUT.
Today, Laine emerged with the regulars for the morning skate. Lo and behold, he will almost certainly play tonight against Anaheim.
“It was hurting a lot and I’ve never had problems with my ankles, so I have no idea how it feels when it breaks or is serious,” Laine said. “I mean, it was hurting a lot so there’s a lot of things going through your head.”
The Jets are, like the Toronto Maple Leafs, locked into their position in the standings. They’ll finish second in the Central Division, likely to meet Minnesota in Round 1, though Colorado and even St. Louis are still possibilities.
All of that slid to the back burner in a hurry however, when Laine blocked an Alec Martinez shot and hobbled to the dressing room Tuesday. For the next two days his assault on a 50-goal season, his race with Alex Ovechkin for the Maurice Rocket Richard Trophy, and the Jets chances of going deep into the spring all turned on the spit that is sports talk radio.
And what was the bearded Finn doing while panicked Jets fans stressed over his ankle?
“Sitting at my house,” he shrugged. “Not being able to practice, that’s pretty much the difference. It’s pretty much the same old, same old.”
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Once X-rays proved negative, Laine beat a path to head coach Paul Maurice’s office apprising him of his readiness to play tonight. It’s a movie that Maurice, an old dog in this business, has seen many times.
“There are certain players that you have to pull out of the lineup, that will tell you they can play when you can clearly see on the ice they’re not moving the way they’re supposed to move,” Maurice said after the morning skate Friday. “And some of the best performances of playoffs are of players who are injured. Doctors said if he can handle it, he’ll go.”
Laine has 43 goals to Ovechkin’s 44, with one game in hand. Hockey culture dictates that all Jets people pooh-pooh any role that race for the Rocket Richard Trophy plays here, but you know that a kid who grew up idolizing Ovechkin would love nothing more than to outscore him down the stretch and steal away a trophy that Ovechkin has won six times.
“The swelling (went) way down after Day 1,” Maurice admitted. “And he’s saying ‘I’m feeling pretty good.’ And the next day he says, ‘I’m feeling really, really good. I think I might be alright.’ And I say, ‘Well, we’ll see tomorrow, ’cause you never know.’
“He goes out at 9:00 a.m. (Friday), skates for two minutes and says, ‘I can play tonight.’ I say, ‘Fine, but you’re taking our morning skate…’ So he goes back out there, skates faster than he has all year so everybody knows that he can play, then he walks into my office and says, ‘I can play.’
“I said, ‘Fine. You prepare like you’re gonna play. We’re gonna give it the afternoon and make sure nothing changes.’”
And we’ll all come back to the rink tonight to see the result.
