It hasn’t been a great start of the 2023-24 season for the Columbus Blue Jackets and star forward Patrik Laine, who may be showing a bit of frustration, especially after he was made a healthy scratch earlier this month. On Wednesday night, just moments prior to puck drop against the visiting Montreal Canadiens, Laine pulled a questionable move amongst hocket greats as he reportedly attempted to score in the Habs’ net following warmups.
According to two French-Canadian reporters, Richard Labbe from La Presse and Anthony Martineau from TVA Sports, Laine attempted to shoot in the Canadiens’ empty net, though he did apparently miss. Martineau wrote (translated from French):
"Patrik Laine tried to score in the Habs’ net before leaving the ice at the end of the warm-up. I don’t know what we can foresee in this, but he missed the cage."
Back in the day, this would lead to a full on brawl, especially when the Canadiens were involved.
That’s like an unwritten rule in the NHL! One is that no player ever crosses the line during warm ups, and everyone knows that a rival player should never attempt to score on the opposite net.
Laine must be looking for trouble…
Ahead of Wednesday’s action, Laine has just two goals and five points in 13 games this season despite his hefty contract of two more seasons at a cap hit of $8.7 million.
At the start of the second period however, Laine scored the first goal of the game on a breakaway.
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