Twenty-six games into the Patrik Laine era, and it's pretty safe to say the Winnipeg Jets are happy with their second overall pick.

Laine's been remarkable, with 15 goals to his name already and a two-point advantage in the rookie scoring race.

After all the pre-draft hype, the Jets were excited to land the Finnish sniper, but they never imagined this sort of production.

"When we got the pick, everyone was excited at the prospect of having Patty," Jets captain Blake Wheeler told ESPN's Pierre LeBrun. "You heard all the stories about his shot and the dynamic things he could do. That's all well and good, but he's 18. You expect there to be a learning curve, you expect to be some speed bumps along the way.

"All of a sudden, he's leading the NHL in goals, and it's not by mistake. It's crazy. He gets the puck in areas (where) you don't really feel like (he has) a scoring chance. All of sudden, it's in the back of the net. You just kind of shake your head."

Laine has thrived in the spotlight, currently on pace for a whopping 47 goals and already netting two hat tricks in his young career.

Emphasis on young - even the Jets sometimes forget their most dynamic scorer is only 18.

"It kind of blows your mind. You watch them play, and then they're back in the hotel room playing video games all day. You pinch yourself, and you say, 'Right, they're kids,'" Wheeler said of Laine and his cohort of youthful talent across the league.

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Two of the NHL's most competitive teams have more in common than being perennial Stanley Cup contenders.

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins find themselves in eerily similar situations when it comes to their goaltenders.

Here are three ways the Eastern Conference powerhouses' respective creases resemble each other:

Struggling veterans

The two teams have plenty in common, and it starts, appropriately enough, with their longtime starting goaltenders.

Marc-Andre Fleury has accomplished plenty for the Penguins throughout his career, but he's no longer consistently dependable.

The 32-year-old took a back seat to Matt Murray last spring, and that trend has resumed now that the latter is back to full health. Fleury hasn't exactly made a strong case for more starts, and he failed to capitalize on a golden opportunity to wrestle the crease back with Murray on the shelf earlier in the season.

Ben Bishop's early mediocrity has been a bit more surprising, but his numbers are strikingly similar to that of his Pittsburgh counterpart. The 30-year-old Lightning starter is in the final year of his contract, but he hasn't played like a pending unrestricted free agent.

Sonic youth

Both clubs have the luxury of possessing encouraging young netminders.

Murray's ascent has been well documented, but that doesn't make it any less impressive. The 22-year-old helped the Penguins win the Stanley Cup after usurping the starting job last season, and he's been stellar so far in 2016-17 after returning from injury.

Andrei Vasilevskiy is also 22 years old, and his stat line is almost a mirror image of that of his Penguins equivalent, although he hasn't yet been able to steal the starting job in Tampa Bay.

Oddly similar contracts

It's not just the statistics and the ages of the four netminders that are similar.

Bishop and Fleury both carry hefty cap hits, with the Lightning goalie on the books for $5.95 million and the Penguins net-protector coming in at $5.75 million for this season and the following two campaigns.

As if that's not enough, Murray and Vasilevskiy signed nearly identical extensions prior to this season:

So what do the two clubs do about their shared dilemma?

The Lightning tried to trade Bishop at the draft and the Penguins have entertained the idea of dealing Fleury, but neither netminder has much value at the moment.

It's a sticky situation for both teams, but at least Penguins GM Jim Rutherford and Lightning GM Steve Yzerman can understand each other's predicament.

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The San Jose Sharks are good; we've known that for a long time. But after their most successful season in franchise history - one that saw the club fall two wins shy of the Stanley Cup - San Jose has maintained that success into the new campaign, but in a different way:

Smothering their opponents.

Led last season by Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, and Brent Burns, who notched 82, 78, and 75 points respectively, the Sharks had the fourth-most prolific offense, accompanied by a sturdy defensive game.

This time around, improved defense has propelled them to a 15-9-1 record through 25 games, good for first in the Pacific.

San Jose has only allowed four or more goals twice this season. For comparison's sake, the Dallas Stars, the team with the most goals against, has earned that dubious distinction seven times.

Goaltender Martin Jones deserves plenty of credit for the turnaround, too, as the 26-year-old is tied for the league lead in wins (13) and sits fifth in goals-against average (1.99) in 22 starts.

The Sharks' quest for the Cup fell short due to an inability to contain the potent attack of the Pittsburgh Penguins, but more than a quarter through this season, they seem to have steadily improved in that aspect.

If they can keep the trend going, combined with the offensive prowess of the aforementioned All-Star core, expect San Jose to be right back in the mix come springtime.

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Both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks sit in the bottom third of the league standings, but the two apparent rivals will be the center of attention Saturday night.

The contest will be the first meeting since their penalty-laced get-together Nov. 5, which saw 171 penalty minutes doled out in the Maple Leafs' victory. Get your popcorn.

NHL senior vice president of player safety Stephane Quintal will reportedly be on hand to ensure cooler heads prevail, but when the puck drops, he'll be hard-pressed to stop any issues from the stands.

Here are three particular matchups Quintal will likely be keeping an eye on.

Gudbranson-Martin

After Leafs enforcer Matt Martin picked rookie Troy Stecher as his sparring partner, Canucks defenseman Erik Gudbranson was caught declaring Martin a dead man. That didn't go over very well with the league.

In hockey circles, standard retribution involves dropping the gloves, which will likely be the outcome between the two heavyweights.

Kadri-Everybody

It's safe to assume Nazem Kadri will be welcomed to Rogers Arena with a series of boos.

Kadri was the focal point of the entire feud last month, following a blind-side hit on Canucks forward Daniel Sedin.

The hit looked like it was a headshot at first, and turned ugly after Sedin's helmet flew off before smacking his head on the ice. But the play didn't warrant a suspension in the eyes of the NHL, much to the chagrin of the Canucks.

Luckily for Kadri, drawing the ire of his opponents is something he's become rather accustomed to over the years.

Rielly-Burrows

Moments before Kadri hit Sedin, Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly leveled Jannik Hansen with a heavy hit in the neutral zone, which didn't sit well with Vancouver forward Alex Burrows.

Burrows wanted to settle the issue with some good ol' fashioned fisticuffs, but not before a quick spear to Rielly's midsection.

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The Montreal Canadiens aren't California Dreamin'.

Rather, the Golden State has been a nightmare for the Habs, as a 2-1 loss Friday to the San Jose Sharks extended a 17-year streak for the franchise, one it would prefer to hide in the back pages of the record books. That is, the Canadiens haven't won in Silicon Valley since 1999.

The Canadiens haven't won in San Jose since Napster was a thing. On Nov. 23, 1999, in San Jose, the Canadiens beat the Sharks 3-2. Craig Rivet scored the game-winner. Jose Theodore got the win. And the team hasn't won a game in Northern California since.

They haven't fared much better in SoCal.

On Tuesday, the Anaheim Ducks shot down the Canadiens 2-1. And no doubt Anaheim doesn't feel like Disneyland to the Canadiens, where the team hasn't seen a regulation win since March 8, 2004, back when the Ducks were still Mighty.

The Canadiens will have a chance to win in Hollywood on Sunday when they take on the Los Angeles Kings, where the historical odds aren't in their favor but they have found more success there than the other two locales. Sunday marks five years and a day since the Canadiens last crowned the Kings, beating Los Angeles 2-1 in a Dec. 3, 2011 affair.

As for Montreal, back-to-back losses has dropped their record to 16-6-2, but with 34 points, they still sit atop the East. It's all good, just as long as they stay out of California.

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Does Brian Elliott have cause for concern?

A 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Friday marked the ninth win of the season for Calgary Flames netminder Chad Johnson, the one-time expected backup who has now appeared in 14 games and posted a 9-4-1 record along the way.

Johnson's move to the starter's role is in part due to his strong play - he owns a .930 save percentage, 2.06 goals-against average, and already has three shutouts on the season.

The second part is on Elliott, who's struggled. The veteran netminder has lost his crease and likely his confidence after appearing in just one of the Flames' last six games, and two of the last 11. With the St. Louis Blues last season, Elliott led the NHL with a .930 save percentage. That number has dipped to .885 this year, while he's found only three wins in 13 games.

An interesting wrinkle? Both players are unrestricted free agents at season's end. While the Flames and Elliott had contract talks early in the season, nothing was signed, and it's surely in Elliott's best interest at this point to cool those negotiations until his performance picks up.

Both goaltenders are making similar money this year, with Elliott at $2.5 million and Johnson banking $1.7 million. Looking to the future, age isn't a factor, as the 31-year-old Elliott is just a year older than Johnson.

And while contract talks with Elliott are seemingly stalled, there's no telling what the Flames' position will be should Johnson's strong play continue. He'll want and deserve a hefty raise.

No doubt Flames general manager Brad Treliving has his work cut out for him as he locks in his crease for the future.

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Martin Jones with a little showtime.

With Alex Galchenyuk left alone for an uncontested rip on the weak side, Jones momentarily scrapped his technique to rob the Montreal Canadiens forward with a rolling desperation glove stop.

Speaking of roll, Jones entered Friday's contest on one, claiming victories in four of his last five starts.

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Martin Jones with a little showtime.

With Alex Galchenyuk left alone for an uncontested rip on the weak side, Jones momentarily scrapped his technique to rob the Montreal Canadiens forward with a rolling desperation glove stop.

Speaking of roll, Jones entered Friday's contest on one, claiming victories in four of his last five starts.

Copyright © 2016 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.