Last night Nikolaj Ehlers kept the puck on a two on one with Patrik Laine with the Jets protecting a one goal lead over the visiting Senators which sequence ended with the dynamic Dane firing it home for his 24th goal of the season and his 100th NHL point (39 goals & 61 assists) in his 151st NHL game.
Photo Credit: Colby Spence
After the game the second year pro was a bit sheepish about not passing to his good friend telling us “I had been on the ice for a minute, I don’t think I was seeing well” but quickly abandoned this line of defence offering up this admission “I can stand here will all my excuses, the puck should have been over there, I apologized.”
Photo Credit: Colby Spence
With his characteristic sense of humour Ehlers added “Next time if we get another chance like that and he (Laine) has the puck, I’m just gonna go change.”.
Following the win when coach Maurice was asked about the growth in Ehlers game he was clearly happy with the progression of the young winger indicating “Really, really pleased because the things that you are seeing in the last month and a half, maybe two months with Nik are a pace to his game, a drive, a quickness.”
Coach Maurice continued “he deserved to be on the ice at the end of the game. For a young, offensive guy, that’s pretty telling that the coach has a lot of confidence (in you).”
The Jets certainly haven’t seen the dreaded sophomore slump with Ehlers whose trajectory continues to increase as do his numbers across the board. Coach Maurice ended his post-game scrum comparing Ehlers potential to that of Jets captain Blake Wheeler saying “he has got lots of room to grow and get strong. We like to think that he is going to have a little of Blake Wheeler’s game in him and play at that pace, not the physicality but certainly the pace.”
Photo Credit: Rodney Braun
While the 2016-17 season has clearly been disappointing from a team standpoint some of the individual player growth that the fan base has witnessed should hold this group in good stead in the coming years as players like Nikolaj Ehlers continue to develop into the next generation of NHL stars.
