Leon Draisaitl has been lighting it up for Edmonton, Mitch Marner is scoring for Toronto and Roope Hintz is main the best way for Dallas.

They are among the many prime performers early within the NHL playoffs.

Then there are some large stars across the league who haven't but made a mark. Per week into the primary spherical, Bo Horvat and Aleksander Barkov have mixed for a purpose and two assists with the Islanders and Panthers, respectively, every trailing their sequence three video games to 1.

Tampa Bay’s elite goaltender, Andrei Vasilevskiy, additionally has not been himself, permitting 19 targets by 4 video games as he and the Lightning have fallen behind 3-1 of their sequence towards Toronto and are actually getting ready to elimination.

BO HORVAT, Islanders

After scoring a short-handed purpose with 2:03 left in a loss to Carolina that put the Islanders getting ready to elimination, Horvat didn't even have fun. New York’s large midseason commerce acquisition had been held with no level till rubbish time of Game 4.

PHOTOS: Horvat amongst NHL stars arising small early in playoffs

Winning 55% of his faceoffs and doing plenty of little issues proper, Horvat acknowledged he wants to supply for the Islanders to keep away from a first-round exit.

“I think I can be a lot better,” Horvat mentioned after the 5-2 loss in Game 4. “At the end of the day, I have to find a way to score big goals or get on the scoresheet not in a 5-1 game or a 5-2 game. I’ve got to find ways to make it meaningful, and I’ve got to be better.”

With teammate Mathew Barzal contemporary off an prolonged damage absence and few different offensive stars round him, the Islanders are relying on that from Horvat, who scored 31 targets for Vancouver earlier than the commerce and has simply eight since.

ALEKSANDER BARKOV, Panthers

Florida’s captain has two assists in 4 video games, with the Panthers falling behind 3-1 towards top-seeded Boston. The Bruins haven’t had captain Patrice Bergeron and in addition misplaced No. 2 heart David Krejci to an damage, so Barkov has not needed to play protection on them.

After scoring the sixth-most targets within the league in the course of the common season, the Panthers have averaged below three a recreation towards the rugged Bruins; of the 11 targets, simply two have come from Barkov’s prime line.

“You don’t want to say you’re getting frustrated,” Barkov mentioned. “The bounces are going to come if you keep working, keep putting pucks to the net, keep going, keep getting guys there. They’re going to come, and we don’t want to get away from that.”

If nothing modifications on that entrance, Florida might get bounced as quickly as Wednesday at Boston.

ANDREI VASILEVSKIY, Lightning

Vasilevskiy has not been the one downside for the Lightning, who're understandably drained after three consecutive journeys to the Stanley Cup Final. But he has not been the stalwart in internet they’ve wanted amid accidents and different errors.

The 2019 Vezina Trophy winner because the league’s prime goalie and 2021 Conn Smythe Trophy winner as playoff MVP, Vasilevskiy has a save share of .856 - worst amongst these with three-plus begins within the playoffs. If he doesn’t discover his type shortly, Tampa Bay might be out as quickly as Game 5 in Toronto on Thursday, with the Maple Leafs profitable a sequence for the primary time in almost twenty years.

KAPRIZOV & BOLDY, Wild

Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy have been buzzing round loads towards Dallas. But after combining for 71 targets within the common season, Kaprizov has one and Boldy none by 4 video games of a bruising sequence tied at 2.

Wild coach Dean Evason mentioned he wasn’t apprehensive: “They’ve just got to continue to play the right way, the same way - they’ll get rewarded.”

VINCENT TROCHECK, Rangers

The Rangers gave Trocheck a seven-year contract price $40 million to improve down the center within the offseason. He had zero factors by the primary three video games towards the New Jersey Devils earlier than scoring New York’s solely purpose in a 3-1 loss Monday evening that evened the sequence at 2.

He wasn’t alone, although. Rangers teammate Alexis Lafrenière nonetheless hasn’t made it on the scoresheet. On the Devils aspect, trade-deadline pickup Timo Meier has zeros throughout the board, too.

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