The Buffalo Sabres are off to a 0-3-1 start this season, and after finishing with the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference a year ago, Jack Eichel's patience is growing thin.
"We've got to just figure a way to be sick of losing," Eichel said, according to Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News. "I know I'm sick of losing. There's a lot of guys that are sick of losing. There's a difference between playing hard and playing hard and smart. We've got to execute our game all the way through the lineup, myself included."
The Sabres haven't held a lead since the mid-way mark of the third period in their season-opener against the Montreal Canadiens. The club is averaging just 2.25 goals per game, tied for the third-worst mark in the league, and are conceding the third-most goals (4.25 goals per game) as well.
What's more shocking is that Evander Kane, Jason Pominville, and Eichel have combined to score all nine of the team's goals, meaning there is a desperate demand for secondary scoring.
"We all need to relax," Eichel said. "We have a lot of good players on this team. It will come. It will come. It's frustrating it's not coming right now. We want to see results. We're working hard but sometimes working hard is not enough."
After dropping a 3-2 decision to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night, the Sabres will be back in action on Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings where they will look to finally get into the win column.
The Winnipeg Jets backup netminder picked up his second straight win Thursday as he turned aside 30 shots to help secure a 4-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
"He's had two really, really good nights where he's looked the same," Jets coach Paul Maurice told reporters following the victory. "His positioning is real strong and he's seeing the puck. He looks good."
Hellebuyck's quick shift into the starting role comes as a bit of a surprise after Winnipeg made a two-year, $8.2-million commitment to Mason this offseason.
The thinking was Mason would help shore up the Jets' biggest weakness - between the pipes - after Hellebuyck failed to claim the top job last season. But the early returns from the new addition have been ugly - Mason holds a .831 save percentage and 6.56 goals-against average through two games - leaving Maurice little choice but to call on Hellebuyck.
Winnipeg's next game comes Saturday against the Carolina Hurricanes, and while the team has not yet announced its starter, it's up to the recently-extended Maurice to stick with the hot hand in Hellebuyck.
It's early in the season, but every point is crucial for the high-flying Jets, especially for a team that missed last year's postseason due to the handful of points squandered from poor goaltending. In the here and now, Hellebuyck offers the Jets their best chance to turn the tide.
The Montreal Canadiens loaned defenseman Mark Streit to the Laval Rocket of the American Hockey League on Friday after the 39-year-old cleared waivers, the team announced.
Given his age, the news has sparked discussion as to whether Streit might elect to return to his native Switzerland to potentially play in the Olympics.
Guessing Streit heads home to Switzerland and makes another run at the Olympics. Was a real influence on Tavares during his #Isles years. https://t.co/2uByBIxl2P
Streit was signed for a second tour of duty with the Canadiens this offseason (one year, $700,000), but underwhelmed in two games played. He's a mins-2, with no points, while playing an average of 14:13.
Were just over a week into the NHL season and while many of the stories sweeping the league have been the strong starts from teams we didn't expect, we have also seen the complete opposite.
It's too early to say any team's poor start will result in missing the playoffs, but still, these five teams are struggling out of the gate and very few expected it.
Montreal Canadiens
The Canadiens can't score, it's as simple as that.
Through four games the club has gone 1-3-0, while managing a league-low five goals, despite averaging 38.8 shots per game. Brendan Gallagher is the lone Canadien to manage more than a single point on the season (one goal and one assist).
It doesn't help that Carey Price hasn't been his usual self, either. Through the first four games he's rocking a 3.30 goals-against average and a .899 save percentage.
The Canadiens have a minus-8 goals differential, the second-worst in the league. The team needs more goals and to allow fewer, which is easier said than done with its current roster.
Boston Bruins
The Boston Bruins might only be 1-2-0 on the season, but it's troubling that both their losses have come at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche.
Sure the Avalanche are off to a strong start, but after they put up the worst record in the salary cap era last season, Bruins fans likely expected at least a split in their home-and-home series.
The Bruins have just seven goals through three games, while Tuukka Rask has been underwhelming, posting a 3.75 GAA and a .870 save percentage.
Having Patrice Bergeron sidelined by an injury doesn't help, but the Bruins should still be able to put up a better effort than they have early on.
Dallas Stars
After adding Ben Bishop and Alexander Radulov in the offseason, many penciled the Dallas Stars into a playoff position. However, through four games the Stars haven't gotten off on the right foot.
The club has gone 1-3-0 and are averaging two goals per game while allowing an average of three - not a winning formula.
Luckily for the Stars, they play the Avalanche twice, the Arizona Coyotes twice, and the Vancouver Canucks once before the end of the month. Of course nothing is certain - as the Bruins have learned - but these games should provide an opportunity for the Stars to get back on track.
New York Rangers
Through four games the New York Rangers are also off to a 1-3-0 start. They have shown that their potential to be great is there, but the goaltending remains a question mark.
The Rangers have scored 10 goals in four games and showed resiliency against the Toronto Maple Leafs after falling behind 5-1 and rallying to tie the game before ultimately conceding to an 8-5 loss.
The club has also lost to the Avalanche and its lone win came against the struggling Canadiens. The Rangers can certainly get things back on track, but they will need to figure out their issues in net first.
The Oilers are 1-2-0, having dropped their last two games against the Canucks and the Winnipeg Jets after shutting out the Calgary Flames 3-0 in their season-opener.
They've given up just eight goals, but have failed to do much offensively, tallying just seven of their own - of course, Connor McDavid has three of those.
The Oilers are averaging just under 40 shots per game, so some better puck-luck and secondary scoring should correct things.
The Dallas Stars bench boss tied Al Arbour for third in all-time wins with a 4-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday. But the mention of his name alongside the Hall of Fame coach doesn't sit well with Hitchcock.
"I don't really know why, but I don't feel good," Hitchcock told Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News. "I felt he was a special human being and a special coach. He was a guy that I could relate to, so it doesn't feel great, to be honest with you.
"We all got our lunch handed to us by Scotty (Bowman), but Al was more of a measuring stick for us. Scotty was rarified air at the time, but Al was a guy we got to talk to and meet."
The victory gave Hitchcock 782 wins, and while a loss followed in the next game, he has another opportunity to take sole possession of third place on Saturday against the Colorado Avalanche.
After six years behind the bench of the St. Louis Blues, Hitchcock returned to Dallas this season, his former stomping grounds, and a franchise which he led to a Stanley Cup championship in 1999. He is out to turn the trick again this season, and while that can't happen until June, Hitchcock will continue to climb the coaching ranks in the meantime.
Next up? Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville, who has 854 career wins to his name.
The new rule governing lost offside challenges cost the Chicago Blackhawks in a loss to the Minnesota Wild on Thursday night, and coach Joel Quenneville was not happy about it.
"I don't know the rules anymore or something's changed, because my understanding, (having) played a lot of hockey, (was) that … I don't know. I think everybody has an interpretation (of) what's a good goal and what's a bad goal, but I can't believe it," he added before throwing up his hands and walking out of the room.
Here's the video evidence of the end of Quenneville's presser:
So what was Quenneville so upset about?
Chris Stewart scored to give the Wild a 2-1 lead midway through the third period, and the Blackhawks bench boss challenged the play hoping Minnesota forward Jason Zucker would be deemed offside carrying the puck in before setting up Stewart for the go-ahead marker.
But the goal call was upheld, and because of the NHL's new policy of assessing a penalty against the team that loses an offside challenge, the Wild went on a power play as a result. Zucker scored on the man advantage to make it 3-1 for Minnesota. Stewart followed that with another goal, and the Wild cruised to a 5-2 victory.
"If a player legally carries or passes the puck back into his own defending zone while a player of the opposing team is in such defending zone, the off-side shall be ignored and play permitted to continue."
This is the first season the league is penalizing teams for failed offside challenges.
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) Steven Stamkos scored his first goal since having right knee surgery last November and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 on Thursday night.
Stamkos made it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 3:49 of the second period from the low left circle. The Lightning star previously scored Nov. 15th at Detroit, the same game that he had a season-ending lateral meniscus tear in the knee.
Stamkos entered with five assists in three games this season.
Slater Koekkoek got his first two NHL goals, and Victor Hedman and Nikita Kucherov also scored for the Lightning. Alex Killorn had four assists, while Andrei Vasilevskiy made 36 saves.
Pittsburgh got goals from Jake Guentzel, Conor Sheary, Bryan Rust and Matt Hunwick. Antti Niemi, who allowed four goals on 13 shots over 9:16 against Chicago on Oct. 5 in his Penguins debut, stopped 29 shots.
After Stamkos tied Vincent Lecavalier for the Lightning team record with 112 power-play goals, Sheary and Kucherov traded goals later in the second. Rust scored on the power play to cut the deficit to 4-3 with 5:36 to go in the period.
Koekkoek got his first goal, coming in his 43rd game, 6:07 into the first. His second extended the lead to 5-3 late in the second.
Hunwick got Pittsburgh within 5-4 at 10:01 of the third.
Hedman put Tampa Bay up 2-1 on a power-play goal from just inside the blue line with one-tenth of a second left in the first period.
Guentzel tied it at 1 four seconds after a Pittsburgh power play ended midway through the first. The Penguins had three man-advantage goals in a 3-2 win Wednesday night at Washington.
Kris Letang assisted on Guentzel's goal and joined Paul Coffey (332) as the only Pittsburgh defenseman to reach 300 assists.
NOTES: Pittsburgh will play its second and final game at Tampa Bay on Oct. 21. ... Lightning C Cedric Paquette didn't play due to an undisclosed injury.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Return home to play Florida on Saturday night.
With a 37-save effort Thursday versus the St. Louis Blues, Florida Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo climbed into a tie with Curtis Joseph for fourth place on the all-time wins list at 454.
In his 18th season, Luongo, 38, accomplished the feat in his 967th game. The only goalies ahead of him on the all-time list are Hall of Famers Ed Belfour (484), Patrick Roy (551), while Martin Brodeur (691) will be a shoo-in for the Hall once he's eligible.
Luongo can gain sole possession of fourth place Saturday night versus Pittsburgh.
