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.
Bad news for the Flyers and Nolan Patrick as he had to be helped to the locker room. pic.twitter.com/wZllyoz30Z
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:
Not good. No. 2 pick Nolan Patrick needs help getting to tunnel after getting his head smacked against the glass on hard hit by Chris Wagner
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.
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.
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."
The 21-year-old has been dealing with concussion symptoms since taking a high hit Oct. 9 versus the Winnipeg Jets.
Draisaitl rejoins an Edmonton team that managed only one win in four games during his absence, and should provide an offensive jolt for a struggling Oilers squad that's averaging just two goals per game this season.
In three games, Draisaitl has one goal and two assists.
Florida's sudden need for goaltending depth stems from an apparent thumb injury to starter Roberto Luongo suffered Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Niemi was waived Monday by the Penguins after performing horribly across three starts this season. The 34-year-old owns an 0-3-0 record to go along with a 7.50 goals-against average and .797 save percentage.
Florida's backup, James Reimer, will serve as the team's starter for the time being, with Niemi holding down the No. 2 role.
In the first period, Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick was pulled from the game by a concussion spotter, but didn't appear to go through the entire protocol and returned soon after.
In short, since Quick wasn't struck by a shoulder, his removal from the game was not mandatory, and the Kings were then able to rule him healthy enough to return. Much like everybody else, Quick was left befuddled by the entire situation.
"You gotta ask the league. I don't know what they we're doing. I don't know what the f--- happened," the goaltender told Sportsnet's Luke Fox.
Over the course of the 2017-18 season, theScore will run a series of interviews with former players in which they recall some of the greatest moments of their career. This edition focuses on Vincent Damphousse, who racked up more than 1,200 points in 1,378 NHL games with four teams.
On what he remembers of his first NHL game:
I remember it was against Montreal, my hometown team. On my first shift, I got my first point. I made a pass to Bob McGill, who hadn't scored the entire year prior, and on his first shift of the new season he scored a goal. Great for him and great for me. I was 18 at the time so everything happened so fast, from training camp to the regular season, it was an incredible few months.
On his first NHL goal:
It was against Kari Takko of the North Stars, in Minnesota. It was my 13th game in the NHL ... I was struggling to get my first one, actually, longer than I expected. I was playing with two Czechs, (Miroslav) Frycer and (Miroslav) Inachak, and I did a wraparound against Takko and was able to put it by him.
On the toughest defenseman he ever faced:
I thought Ray Bourque was the hardest defenseman to play against. He was very talented, but he was also very physical, very tough to beat 1-on-1 and hard in the corners. I thought he was the best defenseman of my generation.
On whether he was ever scared on the ice:
No. There were some guys that you needed to be aware of, to not get hurt, but overall I can't say that guys were targeting me. I wasn't a fighter; usually the fighters would line up the other fighters and try to scrap, so I never felt like I was a target to get hurt on purpose.
I was always pretty aware of who was around me to either pass the puck or avoid getting hit. It was one of my strengths as a player, so overall I felt comfortable I could avoid a major hit and I stayed healthy throughout my career.
On the biggest trash talker he met on the ice:
Mike Ricci was a great teammate, I really loved playing with him. He was always talking on the ice. One of his roles was to disturb some of the other guys. He was one of the guys that would talk a lot on the ice and the bench.
On the player he considered most underrated during his career:
I always thought Mike Keane was a really valuable player on and off the ice. We won the Cup together. I loved playing on the same line with him; he did a lot of stuff that went unnoticed. He wasn't the most talented guy, didn't get drafted, but I'm not surprised that he was wanted in that Patrick Roy trade (with Colorado). They saw value in him, and he won the Cup there as well.
On the greatest game of his career:
One of the games that stands out is the third game (of the first round of the 1993 Stanley Cup playoffs) against Quebec.
There were a few but I would say that game ... we were down 2-0, and it's a game that we needed to win or we probably wouldn't have had a Cup. At 3-0 it would have been tough to beat them. And I scored the winning goal in overtime. That goal in that game started our streak (of 10 straight OT wins).
I had practiced that move quite a bit. I tried to spin with the puck and I was able to beat the defense and scored on the backhand. That was a huge goal for me and the team; it's one of the most important goals of my career.
On what he remembers of the last game of his career:
We lost out in the semifinals in Calgary against the Flames. We lost in six games and they ended up losing in seven to the Tampa Bay in the finals.
I remember sitting in the room after the game and thinking, "This could be it." I was vice-president of the NHL Players' Association, and I knew we had a tough negotiation coming up in the summer. We ended up missing the year, no hockey for the whole season. And I wasn't sure it was going to be it, and I knew that could be it. So I remember thinking about it.
On his favorite hockey memory:
One of the unusual things we did during the 1993 playoffs was that we stayed in the hotel the night before a home game. We would have dinner as a team, and we always had a lot of laughs together. We would pick a different restaurant almost every game.
What started as a one- or two-week thing ended up lasting two months, because we went all the way. We would go from the Forum on a bus to dinner, and then to the hotel. And we had a lot of fun, and we really bonded, so it became part of our home routine. Everyone had kids, family life ... we put that aside to concentrate solely on what we had to do to get ready for the game.
It's not something you see today, or saw back then. But it was great.
Quick Hits
The greatest player he ever played with: Patrick Roy
The greatest player he ever played against: Mario Lemieux
PITTSBURGH -- A game between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Edmonton Oilers can be circled on the calendar well in advance for the matchup between stars Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid.
Perhaps it will play out that the centers who are widely considered the top two players in the world -- Crosby, 30, who has captained Pittsburgh to three Stanley Cups, including the past two; and McDavid, 20, who won the NHL scoring title and the Hart Trophy as league MVP last season -- will steal the show Tuesday night when the teams meet at PPG Paints Arena.
The teams, however, are more interested in getting on the right track.
The Penguins (5-3-1) are coming off their second blowout loss, 7-1 at Tampa Bay on Saturday. The Oilers (2-5-0) are trying to better fill out the win column.
"Obviously, there's some added interest because of the statures of the players," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said Monday. "That's always exciting for everybody involved. We understand that.
"But our focus right now is on our team and trying to get better each and every day so that we're playing the game more consistently."
Edmonton coach Todd McLellan is on the same hunt for his club.
"We've had good practices. It's transferring it over to the game (that has been a problem)," he said. "We worked hard (Monday). We got a lot done."
So while the teams have game-planned for each other, their focus is primarily turned inward.
"I don't think we can elevate our play right now based on our opponent," McLellan said. "We have to elevate our play based on our standard. Is there a bit more of a motivating factor because these guys are back-to-back champs? I'd like to think so, but that shouldn't be what's driving our team.
"I'm sure their team and their leaders and their coach weren't very happy with what happened in Tampa and they want to make amends for it. We should be the exact same way for where we're at."
Edmonton could get a boost with the potential return of center Leon Draisaitl (concussion) and winger Drake Caggiula (undisclosed injury). Both practiced but still need medical clearance to play.
For Pittsburgh, center Riley Sheahan is expected to play after being acquired from the Detroit Red Wings in a trade Saturday.
In addition, the Penguins could dress freshly recalled rookie Casey DeSmith as the backup to goaltender Matt Murray. Antti Niemi, who has struggled and gave up all seven goals Saturday, was placed on waivers Monday. He was 0-3-0 with a 7.50 goals-against average this season.
Club officials did not disclose their plans regardless of whether Niemi is claimed by another team.
Those things could all be overshadowed if Crosby, McDavid or both put on a show.
McDavid leads the Oilers with eight points. Crosby leads Pittsburgh with five goals and is tied with Evgeni Malkin for the team lead with 10 points.
"When you're watching him, you're hoping he'll do something cool, and when you're playing against him you're not hoping that," McDavid said of Crosby.
Crosby downplayed the matchup.
"There are always matchups, story lines, things like that," he said. "We sit here and we talk about them, but our job is to go out there and play. That's what I try to do."
