On Friday night, the weather outside the rink was frightful. Inside the barn, Jack Eichel's game was delightful.
The super center potted his first NHL hat trick, however, it wasn't eniugh to propel the Buffalo Sabres to victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
Eichel’s three goals and one assist performance tied his career best and marked the second time in his career that he has recorded four points in a game. The last time he did so was December 2015 at Boston. Eichel's third goal came on his teeam-high 11th shot on goal of the game, which was a new career high. In Thursday's 2-1 loss at Philadelphiaa, Eichel landed zero shots on goal. The beautiful thing about the NHL is that struggling players get to right their wrongs immediately as the next game is only hours away. On Friday night, in front of his home fans, Eichel certainly proved Wayne Gretzky's "You'll miss 100% of the shots you don't take" theory.
Eichel grabbed his team by the scruff of it's neck and he dragged them into the battle. Sabres fans have been waiting patiently for Eichel to exert himself in such a manner. Eichel has the talent, IQ, want and desire to be this type of player on each and every shift of each of each and every game. He needs to bring it like this same way every minute of every game.
Eichel now has nine points (4G,5A) in his last seven games. He now has 11 goals and 17 assists in 33 games played. His 28 points put him just three points behind Evander Kane's 31 points for teh Sabres team lead.
Eichel’s first career hat trick marked the first by a Sabre since Sam Reinhart on January 10, 2016 at Winnipeg and the first and the Sabres’ first hat trick on Buffalo ice since Thomas Vanek on April 5, 2011 vs. Tampa Bay.
Defenseman Jake McCabe had himself a career night with three points (1G,2A) on Friday night. It was McCabe’s fourth career multi-point game and his third of the season. Sabres defensemen have scored just two goals this season. McCabe has scored both goals by Sabres D-men.
Evander Kane tied his career high with three assists against the Canes. It was his third three-point night of the season.
Kane now has 21 points (8G,13A) in his last 21 games against the Hurricanes. Kane now has scored eight points (2G,6A) in his last seven games.
The Sabres had three players with at least three points in the same game for the first time since January 31, 2013 vs. Boston (Cody Hodgson, Jason Pominville, Thomas Vanek).
In the end, though, it wasn't enough. Jacob Slavin scored 2:15 into OT, beating Chad Johnson high to give the Hurricanes a 5-4 win.
Eichel and company have earned points in five of their last six games, however, three have been OT loser points.
Eichel would have gladly traded in his four point night for two points in the standings.
"It's not good enough to get a point," Eichel said. "It seems like it's been the reoccurring theme here of late. We've had good effort and put ourselves in games and opportunities to win and we're coming out with overtime losses."
In eight overtime sessions this season, the Sabres have won won just once. Phil Housley's team is 1-6 in overtime conetsts, and, 0-1 in shootouts.
Talk about leaving money on the table at the casino of life.
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It was a wild affair in Vancouver on Friday night. Sam Gagner scored on a breakaway with 26 seconds left in overtime to give the Vancouver Canucks a 4-3 win against the San Jose Sharks.
It was the first time since 2012 that the Sharks have lost in Vancuver.
The bigger story is that the Sharks lost their leading scorer to a suspecetd concussion.
Sharks sniper Logan Couture, a noted #BillsMafioso, was forced out game and into the quiet room with a heavy hit from Alexander Burmistrov 5:12 into the third period of play. Burmistrov was given a penalty for interference. Burmistrov appeared to shoulder Couture in the mouth/chin area. Couture was not made available to media after the game.
After the game, Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer said he did not have an update on Couture, who leads the Sharks in scoring with 15 goals and 11 assists in 31 games.
Last season, Couture suffered major moth trauma that required offseason surgery to corrrect.
Losing Couture to injury for a long stretch of games will have a bearing on San Jose's place in the Western standings. A two or three game losing skid could knock the Sharks out of their playoff spot they presently hold onto. The Sharks enter Saturday's action in 6th place in the West with 38 points. However, Minnesota, Chicago and Dallas have 37 points, Calgary and Anaheim have 35 points, and Vancuver 34 points.
The Sharks play at Edmonton on Monday. They host Vancouver on Thursday night and Los Angeles next Saturday night.
Sharks GM Doug Wilson has been combing through the NHL in recent weeks looking for a top six forward to trade for. The Sharks are the NHL's 30th ranked team at scoring at even strength. The Sharks have scored 48 even strength goals in 31 games played. Before the Couture injury, Wilson was been shpping for a high end forward who can skate, create, play the heavy game and pot goals at 5v5 and on the PP. A prolonged absence from Couture would certainly turn up the tempo and urgency on trying to find a sniper to add to the San Jose lineup.
Wilson has been scouting Buffalo Sabres power forward Evander Kane. I expect this scouting process to continue. Since December 3, 2016, Kane has scored 42 goals and 32 assists in 103 games played.Kane's 34 even-strength goals (12/3/16 to present) ties him for 11th in the NHL.
The NHL roster freeze runs from December 19 to December 27.
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