The Columbus Blue Jackets trotted out their star forward pairing of Patrik Laine and Johnny Gaudreau last Wednesday. However, it ended in disaster, and now one of the stars will miss some time.
Laine exited the game against the Carolina Hurricanes with an arm injury following an entanglement with Brett Pesce. It's since been revealed that the Blue Jackets star will miss three to four weeks with an elbow sprain.
The loss of Laine has hit the team hard. He scored the team's only goal in the loss to the Hurricanes last Wednesday. And the Blue Jackets have yet to win a game since. Gaudreau spoke about his linemate's impact on the team recently.
“It changes the lineup completely,” Gaudreau said. “Losing a player at that type of skill level definitely hurts your line, your team. The next guy fills in and being the top line, we need to make sure we produce. It's tough but we need to get this thing going here. We can't wait for Patty to come back in three or four weeks.”
Laine came second in scoring for the Blue Jackets last season. He trailed Oliver Bjorkstrand with 26 goals in 56 games. Bjorkstrand was traded by the Blue Jackets to the Seattle Kraken in the offseason.
Justin Danforth got the first crack at filling in for Laine on Friday, and got an assist while on the top line. However, it has to be a team effort. And Gaudreau believes the Blue Jackets have the depth to be just fine.
“We need to make sure we are playing hard winning, winning games,” Gaudreau said. “With Patty out of the lineup it definitely hurts us but there are still a lot of really talented and smart players here that are capable of helping us win games.”
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