NBCSN’s coverage of the 2019-20 NHL season continues with Tuesday’s matchup between the St. Louis Blues and Buffalo Sabres. Coverage begins at 6:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN. You can watch the game online and on the NBC Sports app by clicking here.
Before the season Jack Eichel talked about the Sabres needing to have consistency, night in and night out, in order to bounce back from a 2018-19 campaign that ended in ugly fashion after beginning so successfully.
The Sabres are still in search of consistency having dropped 13 of their last 19 games after beginning the season 9-2-1. While his teammates have had their struggles, Eichel hasn’t, and has been the most consistent and reliable of any of his Buffalo teammates.
Through 31 games Eichel leads the team with 18 goals and 42 points. He’s currently on pace for 48 goals and 111 points, which is territory a Sabres player has not reached since 1992-93 when Pat LaFontaine and Alex Mogilny had seasons to remember.
Eichel enters Tuesday’s game against the Blues on a 13-game points streak, the longest of his career, and has gone consecutive games without recording a goal or an assist only twice this season. Tim Connolly holds the Sabres franchise record having picked up a point in 16 straight games during the 2009-10 season.
[COVERAGE OF BLUES-SABRES BEGINS AT 6:30 P.M. ET - NBCSN]
A year ago Eichel hit career highs with 28 goals and 82 points and feels the pressure as captain to lead a turnaround in the Queen City.
“I think it is almost impossible to not feel it,” Eichel, the NHL’s Third Star of the Week, told NBC Sports before the season. “I think with the drought our franchise has been in and the ups and downs we’ve went through and being a high pick and coming in with a lot of these new young players like Rasmus [Dahlin], I think that we feel pressured to perform and bring success to Buffalo. It can be tough at times for sure, but sometimes it brings out the best of you and brings out that competitive side.”
How much of an influence has Eichel’s offensive prowess meant to the Sabres? Half of his 42 points have helped the team tie or take the lead.
“I think more than anything he’s now a leader who understands that sometimes it’s quality over quantity, and he can still concentrate on his game,” said head coach Ralph Krueger. “He’s just been a very natural captain, he’s enjoying it, he’s communicating in a really good, consistent way and he’s very positive in his influence on the team whether we’ve had a good day or a bad, and that’s what we need to continue.”
What’s working for Eichel? It’s the quality of shots he’s taking, not the quantity. His shots per game average is slightly down this season (3.58) from his career average (3.62) and from last season (3.98). The shots are going in as his shooting percentage has risen to 16.2% this season compared to 9.2% in 2018-19.
“I’ve been kind of shooting low,” Eichel said last week via the Sabres website. “I feel like in the past, I’ve had a lot of opportunities and just passed them by just missing the net. … You try and go high and miss the net, you don’t give yourself a chance to score or maybe someone else a chance to score. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Just trying to shoot different places, I think, and knowing that sometimes it doesn’t matter how hard you get it off. It’s just about surprising the goalie.”
Kathryn Tappen will host Tuesday night’s studio coverage alongside analysts Patrick Sharp and Keith Jones. Brendan Burke and Pierre McGuire will call the action from KeyBank Center in Buffalo, N.Y.
————
Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.