Things have not gone well at all so far for Steven Stamkos and the Nashville Predators.
But Friday's OT loss to Stamkos' former team might be the new low point for the former 60-goal scorer.
"It's OK to be frustrated because we're not scoring. But you counter that by work ethic and getting into the game in different ways," Stamkos said after a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, according to Alex Daugherty of The Tennessean. "If you're not scoring, what else are you doing out there? What else can you do to help your team win? I've just felt like, for whatever reason, in these stretches, we tend to go the other way."
The loss dropped the Predators to 7-12-5 and their 19 points are tied for second-fewest in the NHL. After a big off-season with the addition of Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei, Nashville is last in the NHL with 2.33 goals per game.
Stamkos, who has seven goals this year, was asked how a team with so much firepower can struggle to score night after night.
"I have some thoughts on that," he said before taking a long pause. "(We've) got guys that can put the puck in the net, for sure, but we need to find ways to generate. Getting open, guys seeing things, guys finding seams... It's tough to score, it's the hardest thing to do in the NHL is score goals. Obviously we've got guys that have done it... but we need to find a way, myself included."
The Predators have a quick turnaround and will be back on the ice Saturday against the Minnesota Wild.
3:44
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.