Buffalo Sabres forward Jack Eichel jumps over Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Connor Carrick during a game on Jan. 17, 2017.John E. Sokolowski
Jack Eichel may be the budding star pushed into the shadows by prodigies Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews but his coach says there is one statistic that shows he is just as valuable to the Buffalo Sabres as the other two are to their teams.
"You talk about the extra goal a game we've had in the last 20 games, it's largely due to Jack's presence back in our lineup," Sabres head coach Dan Bylsma said Tuesday, a few hours before Eichel met his good friend Matthews, the Toronto Maple Leafs' prize rookie, in an NHL game for the first time. "He brings up everybody's level of play because he's back with us."
The record shows that without Eichel, who sustained a high ankle sprain in training camp on the verge of his second season, the Sabres stumbled through the first 21 games of the season with only 39 goals scored. That works out to a mere 1.86 goals per game, a number that will keep a team at the bottom of the standings. But in the 22 games the Sabres played since Eichel made his season debut on Nov. 29 (not counting Tuesday's meeting with the Leafs), they hit the twine 63 times for an average of 2.86 goals per game.
In those 22 games, Eichel has 10 goals and seven assists. The 20-year-old centre's numbers are not quite up to Matthews' 37 points in 41 games but Matthews himself says Eichel has to be watched.
"He's so hard to knock off the puck. He's got that deceptive stride. It's incredible," said Matthews, who came to be close friends with Eichel when they played together in the USA Hockey development program. "That's something you've got to watch out for. He takes one step and he's three steps by you."
Eichel was taken second overall in the 2015 NHL entry draft, behind McDavid, and he's been hearing the comparisons for years. A sure way to end any interview with Eichel is to bring up McDavid, although he does not mind discussing Matthews, who is another constant comparison to him.
"World Cup, world juniors, I've spent a lot of time with him," Eichel said of Matthews before the game. "He's a good dude. I'm happy to see him have success and look forward to playing against him."
Matthews, though, wound up on the winning side of the first NHL game between them as the Maple Leafs came back from a 2-0 Sabres lead after the first period to grab a 4-3 win, their third in a row. And it was Matthews who scored the go-ahead goal and was picked as the game's first star.
When he came back from his ankle sprain in late November, Eichel did not hit the ground running. He started strong, with three points in his first two games, but went pointless in eight of his next 10 games. Part of the problem was Bylsma separated Eichel from fellow offensive forward Sam Reinhart and part of it was the Sabres' overall awfulness.
The situation came to a head on New Year's Eve when the Sabres lost 3-1 in Boston to the Bruins. It was their sixth loss in seven games. While a small group of reporters spoke to goaltender Robin Lehner in one corner of the Sabres' dressing room, Eichel blew up in another. He threw around some equipment, shouted some choice language and stormed out of the room without speaking to the reporters.
The next day, rather than shrug it off as frustration, Eichel did not back away from his obvious unhappiness with his team.
"As a whole team, everyone needs to look in the mirror and we all need to get a lot better," The Buffalo News reported him saying. "I think I speak for the team in saying that we're all frustrated with where we're at, and I don't think I'm the only person in the locker room that's not satisfied."
Those close to the team say that was the point where Eichel seemed to come to grips with the fact he is expected to be the Sabres' leader of the future. Rather than defer to older players like Ryan O'Reilly and Brian Gionta, Eichel started to take a more active leadership role himself.
In the seven games following Eichel's outburst and heading into the Leafs game, the Sabres have a 4-2-1 record. They beat the Dallas Stars 4-1 on Monday and Eichel, who was reunited with Reinhart for the game, scored two goals.
But the Sabres remained in last place in the Atlantic Division with a 17-17-9 record before facing the Leafs, which is why Eichel says he still wants to see more from himself and his teammates.
"There's too much inconsistency in our game," Eichel said after Tuesday's game-day skate at the Air Canada Centre. "We play a game like [Monday], there's a lot of good things. It seems like we do that and we're going on those streaks of three or four games we play well, then drop a few, and you miss costly points.
"For us as a team to take the next step we have to learn [to be consistent]. One of our team mottos is never two in a row. We need to start making that more of a reality."
After losing the lead against the Leafs on Tuesday night, Eichel admitted the Sabres have a lot of work ahead of them to slay the inconsistency dragon.
"Yeah, we came out playing pretty well and we even had some good spurts in the second period," Eichel said. "Obviously, we didn't do enough to win."