There’s a good chance Patrik Laine has already asked the NHL if the Winnipeg Jets can take road trips to Helsinki Sonny Milano Jersey , Finland, more often.The 20-year-old Finn broke out of what many observers considered to be a significant slump with a natural hat-trick to pace the Jets to a 4-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Thursday evening at a sold-out crowd Hartwell Arena in Helsinki.The Jets and Panthers are in the Finnish capital as part of the 2018 NHL Global Series. They square off again on Friday.Article continues below ...Laine had scored just three goals in the first 12 games of the season — all on the power play — and his inconsistent play had seen him dropped down to the third and fourth lines for large portions of the last few games. He was second in league goal scoring last season with 44.“I don’t think you can imagine how good that feels,” Laine said at a post-game press conference. “It’s good to be home and score all those goals back here. It’s pretty awesome.”Laine was particularly ineffective during two losses over the last eight days to the Toronto Maple Leafs, during which he did not compare well with Leafs center Auston Matthews, the top pick in the 2016 draft, one spot ahead of Laine.Most fans at the Hartwell Arena were there to see one of two players, Laine or Aleksander Barkov, 23, of the Panthers. Both were born in Tampere, a two-hour drive from Helsinki.The two were far enough apart in age as juniors that they didn’t know each other growing up but they did wear their country’s colors together at the 2016 IIHF World Championships. Barkov http://www.officialbluejackets.com/authentic-adidas-zach-werenski-jersey , the Panthers’ captain, played a strong game on Thursday but wasn’t nearly as prominent on the scoresheet. He registered one assist on a goal by defenseman Keith Yandle in the first period.“Overall, as a team, we played good in their zone,” Barkov said at his own post-game press conference. “We have another game (Friday) and we have to concentrate on that.”Barkov will make the highlight packages, however, as Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien caught him with a legal shoulder check midway through the second period as he looked back for a pass in the Jets zone. Barkov crumpled to the ice and was slow to get up before going directly to the Panthers bench. He finished the game.Former Jets 1.0 star and Finnish hockey legend Teemu Selanne helped whip the crowd up into a frenzy when he dropped the puck for the ceremonial face-off.The Panthers outshot the Jets 38-35 but got out to an impressive 9-0 lead but had nothing to show for it. Jets winger Mathieu Perreault opened the scoring late in the first period.Once the English-speaking reporters were finished asking questions, Laine was left behind to answer their Finnish counterparts. As Byfuglien got up to leave he jokingly told Laine, “we’re not going to hold the bus for you.” COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) After dropping the first two playoff games at home in overtime Authentic Alexander Radulov Jersey , the Washington Capitals picked up momentum that only got stronger as they took down the Columbus Blue Jackets in four straight.Now they’ll strive to keep the intensity high as they advance to a second-round rematch with the Pittsburgh Penguins.The Capitals, who manhandled the Blue Jackets 6-3 on Monday to cap the opening round series, are looking to avenge second-round playoff losses to Pittsburgh in each of the past two seasons.”I can’t wait to take a step forward,” said Washington star forward Alex Ovechkin, who had two goals on Monday, including his 50th playoff tally. ”They know how to play, they know the pressure. It’s a huge series for us.”Goaltender Braden Holtby relieved a struggling Philipp Grubauer in Game 2 and was great the rest of the way. He had 35 saves Monday in a game in which his team was outshot 38-28. Fifteen of the saves were in the third period when the desperate Blue Jackets turned up the heat.”(He’s) been fantastic,” Ovechkin said. ”He’s stepping up big-time. He’s top goalie in the league, and he showed it today and he showed it in the series.”For his part, Washington coach Barry Trotz wasn’t ready to talk about Pittsburgh yet after a taut opening-round series.”Please let me breathe Ben Bishop Jersey ,” he said. ”We haven’t taken a breath since this started.”Chandler Stephenson had a goal and an assist, and Dimitry Orlov, Devante Smith-Pelly and Lars Eller also scored Monday for Washington, which never trailed in OT in Game 5 on Saturday. The Capitals won each of the three games in Columbus.One of the stories for Washington was its ability to defend Columbus’ power play. After the Blue Jackets went 4 for 8 with a man advantage in the first two games, the Caps held them to 0 for 16 in the last four. Meanwhile, Washington took good advantage of Columbus penalties, scoring on the power play in each of the six games.”I think going into the year there wasn’t a lot of people who said we would finish first in the Metro, and we did that,” Trotz said. ”And it’s just creating a pretty consistent culture, and it’s having good players too. It was a tremendous test for us. We didn’t get off to a good start and had to dig ourselves out.”Trotz said he leaned on veterans Ovechkin http://www.officialstarsproonline.com/authentic-adidas-brett-ritchie-jersey , Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and others to keep the Capitals on an even keel through the tumult of the season.”We’ve had lots of different adversity through this year and in the past, and we’ve grown up a little bit in some ways,” he said. ”We understand that our core group is really, really strong, they believe in each other. We’ve got a lot of young guys in the room. We’ve had to rely on our core to push us forward, and we have.”—