Toronto Maple Leafs captain John Tavares didn't mince words when assessing his team's performance in its 7-3 loss on home ice to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.

"We have to do a lot better job of defending," Tavares said postgame, according to TSN's Mark Masters. "Letting seven in at home is just unacceptable."

Tavares, who scored his first goal of the season in the opening frame, knows his club needs to be better.

"We just didn't execute at a very high level and they did," he said. "We just didn't do the right things that are going to consistently lead to good things and lead to results. That effort tonight isn't going to win us many hockey games."

For the third time in four home games this season, the Leafs surrendered the first goal in the opening 2:30 of the contest.

The Lightning struck for four first-period goals on Leafs netminder Frederik Andersen, including a pair on the power play. It was the first time in his career that Andersen has allowed four goals in the opening stanza of a regular-season matchup, according to Sportsnet Stats.

Toronto is now 1-2-1 at Scotiabank Arena to start the campaign. The Leafs will travel to Detroit to face the Red Wings on Saturday night before hosting the Minnesota Wild next Tuesday.

Copyright © 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Nikita Kucherov is hungrier for the Stanley Cup than ever before.

The Tampa Bay Lightning star may have taken home the Hart Trophy and Ted Lindsay Award last year, but those individual accomplishments alone didn't satisfy him.

"I don't care about the personal stuff, I mean you do care because you want to play well," Kucherov said, according to The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun. "But at the end of the day, you want to remember the fun part and winning the Cup and having your name on it."

The Lightning were swept at the hands of the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round of the 2018-19 playoffs despite putting together one of the most dominant regular seasons in NHL history.

Kucherov only managed two assists in three games during the first-round series after recording 41 goals and 128 points in the regular season.

Copyright © 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

The NHL is expanding its partnership with SportsMEDIA Technology (SMT) as its source for puck- and player-tracking technology, the league announced Thursday.

"Fan engagement and technological innovation are at the forefront of everything we do. Using technology to depict exactly how fast, how skilled our game and our players are, enhances the connectivity our fans have with hockey," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said.

"We are thrilled to expand our partnership with SMT, a leader in the sports technology industry and established partner of the NHL. Through our partnership, we look forward to continuing to innovate our scoring and puck- and player-tracking systems, as well as how we bring to life limitless data points, which will take fans more inside the game than ever before"

In January, the NHL announced it would introduce puck and player tracking for the 2019-20 season, but then cut ties with Jogmo World Corp - the league's original tracking partner - in September.

Moving forward, the goal is for SMT to deploy puck- and player-tracking systems in every NHL arena by the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs. According to the release, the data will be used for the following:

• Updating the NHL's official scoring system, which will include puck- and player-tracking data.
• Developing and installing tracking systems in all NHL arenas.
• Distributing data in the form of innovative graphics and visualizations to NHL media partners and other stakeholders.

Tracking data has been experimented with by the NHL in the past, including at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and at multiple All-Star Games.

Copyright © 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Tampa Bay Lightning pivot Brayden Point will make his season debut in Thursday night's matchup against the Toronto Maple Leafs, head coach Jon Cooper confirmed to reporters.

Point was expected to be out until late October after undergoing offseason hip surgery. He recently practiced on a line with Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov and skated with the Bolts' top power-play unit.

The 23-year-old had the best season of his young career in 2018-19, registering a career-high 41 goals and 92 points in 79 games. Point's impressive production earned him a three-year, $20.5-million contract in September.

Point's return is a welcome sight for the Lightning, who are coming off back-to-back losses that prompted Stamkos to publicly call for major changes to the team's style of play.

Copyright © 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Drew Doughty might just make enemies with all of Western Canada before the 2019-20 season is through.

The Los Angeles Kings blue-liner was asked for his thoughts after Wednesday's 8-2 waxing at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks, and again raised eyebrows with another candid assessment.

"I mean, I ain't gonna park it, it's just embarrassing," Doughty said, per Kings insider Jon Rosen. "I mean, a team like that should not be beating a team like ours 8-2. There's actually no way. I know they had a lot of energy right off the bat because it's their home opener and they had their whole ordeal with the captain and whatever. But we had chances to come back, and then we just gave up a goal right after we scored a goal. It was a bad team effort by everyone on this team, I thought."

Doughty's been under the microscope all week due to his rivalry with Matthew Tkachuk and his performance versus the Calgary Flames on Tuesday. Doughty had three points, including the overtime winning goal, and said he wanted to "shove it in their faces" with a spirited celebration after being incessantly booed all night.

Wednesday's game didn't go as well for the 29-year-old, as he finished minus-3 in over 23 minutes in the loss that brought Los Angeles' record to 1-2.

Doughty's comments about the Canucks aren't exactly easy to justify, as Vancouver finished 10 points clear of the Kings in 2018-19.

Copyright © 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Carolina Hurricanes forward Jordan Martinook will miss the next six-to-eight weeks after undergoing surgery to repair a core muscle injury on Friday, the team announced.

Martinook's registered one point in Carolina's scorching 4-0 start to the 2019-20 season, averaging just under 12 minutes per night for the Metropolitan Division leaders.

The 27-year-old signed a two-year, $4-million contract with the Hurricanes in January and was named an assistant captain prior to the current season.

Copyright © 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

Disgruntled Dallas Stars defenseman Julius Honka has signed with JYP Jyvaskyla of the Finnish league, the team announced Thursday.

Honka is a restricted free agent, and his Finnish deal includes an opt-out clause that runs until Dec. 1 - the deadline for RFAs to sign an NHL contract this season.

Dallas drafted Honka 14th overall in 2014, but despite a promising skill set, he's yet to establish a consistent role on the blue line. Honka only appeared in 29 games with Dallas last season, and he was a healthy scratch for the club's final 35 contests and its entire playoff run.

However, he's put up strong underlying numbers during his stints in the big leagues, and he's produced multiple prolific offensive campaigns with the AHL's Texas Stars.

Honka asked the Stars for a trade in September The Montreal Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes were among the teams that reportedly showed interest in acquiring the 23-year-old right-handed shot.

Copyright © 2019 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.