By Canadian Press

Patrik Laine scores second hat trick this season in Jets rout of Stars

Nov 8, 2016 | 9:15 PM

WINNIPEG — Patrik Laine and Mark Scheifele were humbled about vaulting to the top of the NHL’s scoring lists, no matter how long it lasts.

Laine took over the league lead in goals with the second hat trick of his rookie season Tuesday and Scheifele is now the league’s points leader after the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Dallas Stars 8-2.

Laine, who also had an assist, now has 11 goals and 15 points.

“It’s always unbelievable to score,” the 18-year-old Finn said. “I’m proud of myself and I’m proud of our team.

“I don’t want to think about the future, (but) it’s amazing to lead the league on the scoreboard.”

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Scheifele had a four-point outing with two goals and two assists, propelling him to 18 points, one more than Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Chicago’s Artem Anisimov.

“It’s been a dream of mine,” Scheifele said of reaching the top. “It’s pretty cool, but there is still a lot of the season left and there are a lot of good players.

“Hopefully, I can stay in the mix. It’s pretty humbling. I still have part of my game that I can improve.”

Scheifele grinned when told McDavid had three assists in Edmonton’s 4-3 loss to Pittsburgh Tuesday.

“Maybe I’ll send him a text and say, ‘Tough bounce,’” the fourth-year centreman said.

Marko Dano, Andrew Copp and Adam Lowry also scored for Winnipeg (6-7-1), while Nikolaj Ehlers, Nic Petan and Tyler Myers each had two assists. Copp also added a helper.

Patrick Eaves and Tyler Seguin scored for Dallas (4-6-3).

“Pretty much embarrassing from start to finish,” said Stars forward Jamie Benn, who was held pointless. “We came in here and played a terrible game and that’s what you get.”

Stars head coach Lindy Ruff was asked if it was rock bottom for his injury-riddled team.

“Yeah,” he responded. “We made some really dumb mistakes that we paid dearly for. Some missed assignments that every play turned into a big play for them. It’s hard.

“We’re too shorthanded to be a dumb team and we were a dumb team tonight.”

Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves in his third straight start for Winnipeg. Dallas netminder Kari Lehtonen was replaced by Antti Niemi after Laine’s third goal. He had let in four goals on 11 shots. Niemi finished with 16 saves.

Hellebuyck was grateful he was back in net after being pulled in Winnipeg’s 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers Sunday.

“It meant everything,” he said. “I preach a lot about the redemption game. I think I really owed it to myself and to my teammates to give my best tonight.”

Winnipeg led 2-0 after the first period on goals by Scheifele and Laine, even though Dallas was up 14-5 in shots on goal.

The Stars were on the power play heading into the second after Scheifele was called for tripping. Eaves used the man advantage to score his third goal of the season when he redirected a Devin Shore shot past Hellebuyck at 1:30 to make it 2-1.

Winnipeg responded with four straight goals in the second.

Seguin scored an unassisted goal at 2:32 of the third to give him seven on the season.

Copp’s first of the season was a short-handed goal at 13:49 and Lowry finished off the scoring with 1:44 left in the game.

The Jets head out on the road for back-to-back games against Arizona on Thursday and Colorado Friday. The Stars travel to Calgary for a game on Thursday.

Notes: Newly re-signed Jets defenceman Jacob Trouba skated with the Jets Tuesday morning, but didn’t play. He told reporters he’s rescinded the trade request he and his agent had made public when he failed to report to training camp.

Judy Owen, The Canadian Press