Patrik Laine scores a hat trick against the Chicago Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks are not a playoff team but they clearly want to still play well as the season winds down for them. The offseason is going to be extremely important for them as they try to build towards the future. Their most recent game against the Columbus Blue Jackets tells the story.

The Blue Jackets outshot the Hawks by five but they outscored them 7-4. It was a somewhat close game at times but the Jackets took advantage of the Blackhawks’ mistakes and it paid off for them in the end.

One Columbus player that had an exceptional night is Patrik Laine. The former second overall pick went off with a hat trick. The goals were his 14th, 15th, 16th on the season as he is hoping to really heat up. He was the difference for his team in the big win.

It is outstanding (as a hockey fan) to see Laine have success. He had a tough few years in between his outstanding NHL start and right now. As he continues to get older, we should really start to see him dominate games again. He looked like that in this game at the United Center.

Patrik Laine had his way with the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night.

You know that Laine is going well when he is scoring goals in every way possible. His first goal was one that snuck over the line and was reviewed. The second goal was him using his outstanding shot on a set play off the faceoff. The third was an empty netter that sealed the win for his team.

Letting one player dominate you like that isn’t always an acceptable look no matter who it is. He had a great game and should be proud of it but the Blackhawks were horrible. Chicago made plenty of mistakes and Laine’s Blue Jackets were winners because of it.

Alex DeBrincat scored his 29th of the season and it was assisted by Patrick Kane and Seth Jones. Outside of that one, the third and fourth line guys provided the rest of the offense which was great to see. Depth scoring is very important in today’s NHL and the Hawks need to be better.

Defense and goaltending (or lack thereof) is the reason for the loss in this one. You should win games that you score four but they were never able to get it tied before Columbus took the momentum back.

The Chicago Blackhawks are right back at it on Friday night with a home game against the Dallas Stars. This was a bad game for them but now they have a quick turnaround to try and make it right. We’ll see what they are able to do.