Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

This is only the beginning.

Tuesday's dynamic performances from Arizona Coyotes forward Clayton Keller and Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, already off to stellar starts, make the two freshmen look like the early favorites for the Calder Trophy.

Keller, 19, pocketed two assists against the New York Islanders to bring his season total to 10 points, tops among NHL rookies. It also extended his point streak to three games, over which the Missouri native has notched three goals and three assists.

"If you have not had a chance to watch Keller, you are missing one of the game's brightest young stars," said NHL Network analyst Brian Lawton. "Dynamic every shift."

If Keller can keep it up, he could become the first Coyote to take home rookie of the year honors.

Sergachev delivered a similar performance Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Russian blue-liner added another assist to bring his season total to nine points, one behind Keller for the league lead. And no Lightning player has ever won the Calder either.

After a slow start to the season in which he posted two points in six games, Sergachev's experienced a reversal of fortunes in his past four contests with three goals and three assists.

Most impressively, the quality of his play has been a bit unexpected - at least so early. The budding defenseman wasn't a lock to fill a roster spot for the Lightning when the team entered training camp, but the 19-year-old's recent play should negate any talk about developing his game in the minors.

"You're looking for 'Has there been improvement? Is he adapting to the game, the speed of the game, the physicality?' He's done all that," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said prior to Tuesday's game, according to Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times.

The Lightning paid a steep price to bring in Sergachev, sending forward and former third overall pick Jonathan Drouin to the Montreal Canadiens. But the deal is quickly providing value.

"When you watch a player like that continue to improve, especially at a young age, looking at the ceiling he has, which is really high right now, it's pretty hard to make a change," Cooper added. "He's had a positive impact on our team. He's a part of a team, and that's how it's going to be moving forward."

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The Philadelphia Flyers lost Nolan Patrick to injury during the second period of Tuesday's game against the Anaheim Ducks after the 2017 No. 2 pick was hit into the boards by Chris Wagner.

There's cause for concern as Patrick's head clearly bumped the glass with force as a result of the shoulder-to-shoulder check.

The 19-year-old center remained down for several moments before being helped off the ice.

The Flyers announced midgame that Patrick would not be returning. Later, general manager Ron Hextall said the team would know more about Patrick's status Wednesday, according to Adam Kimelman of NHL.com.

The view from the press box was not promising:

Patrick recorded one goal and two assists in nine games prior to the injury.

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NEW YORK (AP) John Tavares completed his hat trick with a tiebreaking goal in the third period, lifting the New York Islanders over the winless Arizona Coyotes 5-3 on Tuesday night.

The Islanders won their third straight and improved to 5-3-1. Jaroslav Halak made 32 saves for New York.

Adam Pelech had three assists for the Islanders, and fellow defenseman Scott Mayfield cemented the win with his first goal of the season at 17:03.

The Coyotes - starting a five-game road trip - fell to 0-8-1 under new coach Rick Tocchet.

Tavares' seventh career three-goal game came on a night when he also moved past Islanders forward Bob Bourne into seventh place on the career franchise goals list. The 27-year-old Tavares has six goals this season and 241 career tallies. Bourne had 238 goals with the Islanders from 1974-86.

Brock Nelson put the Islanders ahead 3-2 early in the third on the power play, but Arizona's Nick Cousins tied it at 8:57 with a long-range shot that eluded Halak.

Nelson's fifth goal of the season on a snapshot from the right circle beat goalie Louis Domingue at 4:32 of the third, three minutes after Arizona's Mario Kempe tied it at 2.

Tavares scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season in the second after Arizona's Anthony Duclair scored early in the first.

Duclair opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 4:47 of the first. Duclair finished off a passing play started by former Ranger Derek Stepan and rookie Clayton Keller.

The goal was Duclair's second of the season and came with Anders Lee of the Islanders in the penalty box for tripping.

It was the seventh time in nine games the Coyotes scored a first- period goal.

Starting an eight-day road trip, the Coyotes had the better of play in the first, outshooting the Islanders 14-6 before a sparse crowd at Barclays Center.

Stepan, traded to Arizona by the Rangers after last season, has two goals and five assists in his last seven games for the low-scoring Coyotes, who have 21 goals in nine games. Six of those goals are from the 19-year-old Keller, who had two assists against the Islanders.

Tavares tied it at 3:41 of the second when he tipped in a pass from Jordan Eberle after linemate Anders Lee stripped the puck from Coyotes defenseman Jason Demers to the right of Domingue, who is 0-5 so far after being pressed into a leading role with starter Antti Raanta out with a lower-body injury for the past two weeks.

Tavares put the Islanders ahead when a pass from Pelech towards Tavares in the slot, banked in off Tavares' skate at 14:25 of the second.

Eberle, who assisted on Tavares' first two goals and has six assists on the campaign, has yet to score through nine games in his first season with the Islanders.

NOTES: The Coyotes will host the Islanders on Jan. 22. ... The Islanders scratched forward Josh Ho-Sang and defensemen Ryan Pulock and Dennis Seidenberg while the Coyotes scratched defenseman Kevin Connauton, forward Lawson Crouse and goaltender Antti Raanta.

UP NEXT

Coyotes: At New York Rangers on Thursday night.

Islanders: At Minnesota on Thursday night.

---

More AP hockey: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey

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It's been anything but a fun first three weeks of the 2017-18 season for the Arizona Coyotes.

With a 5-3 loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday night the Coyotes remain the only team not to register a single win this season, now riding a record of 0-8-1.

For Rick Tocchet - who is in his first season as a head coach - it's been a painful beginning to his head coaching career. Once more, it's not just one part of the team's game holding his club back.

The Coyotes are seeing failures in all facets of their game and the numbers prove just how bad things have been:

31.1: The number of shots per game the Coyotes have generated, ranking 19th in the league.

47.1: The percent of faceoffs the Coyotes have won, good enough for 28th league-wide.

72: The percent of penalties the Coyotes have killed, the 29th-best mark to begin the season.

15.2: The percent of power plays the team has been able to capitalize on, good enough for 22nd this season.

4.33: The average number of goals allowed by the Coyotes per game, the highest total in the league.

2.33: The amount of goals the Coyotes are scoring per game on average, the third-worst total this season.

87.27: The Coyotes' team save percentage through the first eight games of the season, the second-worst total in the league.

6: The number of Coyotes players who have scored more than a single goal this season.

While the argument can be made that it's early - and it is - the fact is the Coyotes' struggles aren't as simple as poor goaltending or a snake-bitten offense, it's everything. So unless the team can come together to clean up its play at both sides of the rink, expect more heartache in the desert.

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Open the floodgates.

Heading into Tuesday's game against the Florida Panthers, the Montreal Canadiens had scored a grand total of 12 goals in eight games.

It must have been a great relief for all, then, when the Canadiens exploded for three goals in 1:35 late in the second period.

Alex Galchenyuk got the ball rolling with his second of the season at 16:44:

At the 18:02 mark, Shea Weber scored with his vintage slap shot:

And 17 seconds later, Brendan Gallagher recorded his third of the season on a great individual effort:

A little puck luck can go a long way.

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It was in December of 1992, amid a season in which he'd eventually play for the Stanley Cup, when former NHL goaltender Kelly Hrudey first felt his career crashing down around him.

Hrudey was having another solid year for the Los Angeles Kings, who went on to lose in the Cup final to Montreal that June. Yet, despite that success, Hrudey faced one of the toughest battles of his career: a struggle with mental health.

Hrudey shares his personal torment in his new memoir, "Calling the Shots," which hit bookstores Tuesday. The book, which Hrudey co-wrote with author Kirstie McLellan Day, reveals details of his most desperate times, including an instance when a panicked Hrudey climbed into a bathtub in Milwaukee, clutching a Bible.

"I had never shared that with anybody, and, at the time, I didn't know what I was going through. I had no idea what I was going through," Hrudey told theScore.

"I had no idea where my life was going. I was completely convinced that my career was coming to a crashing halt, and so, it was weird because I was still playing well. I was on the cusp of not playing well and I knew it, but at the time I was just fighting whatever was going on in my head."

Hrudey suffered in silence, as mental health issues weren't as well known and understood as they are today. In fact, this was the first time he opened up publicly about his psychological struggle.

"I'm glad I shared that in the book because it kind of really tells people that athletes could be going through something," said Hrudey. "I mean, it was very embarrassing and telling to show people that you are supposed to be the No. 1 goalie on maybe the most popular team in the world at the time, and, man alive, I was extremely weak at that point in my life."

But inner struggles certainly aren't all Hrudey shares with readers in his book, which focuses primarily on his time in the NHL and the relationships he formed. One of those relationships was forged a few years prior to his mental health issues, when none other than Wayne Gretzky decided Hrudey was a guy he should get to know.

"That's pretty weird. Crazy to think that Wayne had a big influence on trading for me," Hrudey said. "Wayne decided that they wanted somebody else in L.A., so he went to my manager at the time, Bill Torrey, at the All-Star game, and asked what it would it take, and Bill said there's not a chance. And then, shortly after that, Bill had a change of heart because things weren't going well on the Island.

"So, cool! What a life to go from a great experience in N.Y. to L.A. It completely changed my life."

Whether it was in New York with the Islanders, L.A. with the Kings, or San Jose with the Sharks, Hrudey always appreciated viewing the game from the unique perspective of a goaltender. That point of view led to a seamless transition from backstop to broadcaster at "Hockey Night in Canada," where his opinion on the game is as respected as they come.

(Photo courtesy: Getty Images)

And Hrudey isn't short on opinions. Consider, for example, his take on the NHL's recent crackdown on slashing:

"The slashing was out of control last year. Last year I said on the air, in October or November, they have to do something," said Hrudey. "Slashing has always been around, but, I noticed last year it was getting to the point where it was causing way too much harm. There were way too many injuries, and it continued the rest of the year and into the playoffs.

"So, I'm really happy they did something."

Hrudey made a name for himself during his playing days as a fierce competitor, and now that he spends his days as an analyst, he has used his platform to build another kind of reputation.

He kept his own struggles with mental health hidden from the public eye until now, but that hasn't stopped him from being an outspoken supporter of the initiative thanks to his work with his daughter, Kaitlin, who went public with her struggles with anxiety and other mental health issues in 2013.

"My daughter and I have been talking about her mental health issues for a number of years now, so she has great strength and she has changed a lot of people's lives," Hrudey said.

"She's helped a lot of people. So I think if she can share, then I can share too."

Hrudey's resume includes more than 760 NHL regular-season and playoff games, several international competitions, and a tenure as one of the most popular hockey analysts in hockey. But those accomplishments pale in comparison to what he feels is his crowning achievement.

"Let me just say this. My NHL career, my broadcasting career are OK, but my greatest work is with mental health."

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