Todd McLellan's release from the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday made for the fourth coaching casualty in the NHL this season. If you we consider in 2017-18 Anthony Duclair Jersey Womens , no coaches were fired during the season at all, it's hard to fathom how, to date, McLellan, John Stevens (LA), Joel Quenneville (Chicago) and Mike Yeo (St. Louis) have all been let go and most before the respective teams hit the 20-game mark of the 2018-19 regular season.So why the change? What makes this season so much different than last season and why are teams so quick to make a change? If we look at聽reasons teams make coaching changes in general, what happened in each team's particular case and the general changes year to year in the NHL, we can see both similarities and differences between this year and last and why these four may not be the final names on the casualty list.advertisingDisappointing Seasons via SportsnetIn some cases, the firings that happened this year are a direct result of unexpected and disappointing seasons. Perhaps in Edmonton and Chicago, things weren't dire, but in St. Louis and Los Angeles they were, with the Oilers and Blackhawks not far behind.If we聽take the Blues as an example, here's a team who went out this past offseason and loaded up on offensive talent. They brought back David Perron, added Tyler Bozak, traded for Ryan O'Reilly and signed Patrick Maroon. They still had stars like Vladimir Tarasenko and should have been a deep team contending for a playoff spot, predicted to go deep in the postseason. Instead, they sit second-last in the NHL standings with the fifth-worst goals-for total in the league. Whatever that team envisioned clearly hadn't been panning out. The only team worse? The Los Angeles Kings.advertisingParity in the NHL via sportsnetMoreso than ever before, there's great parity in the NHL 鈥?meaning Chris Kreider Jersey , any team can beat any team at any given time. Sure, there are stacked teams that were clear favorites from the first puck drop of the 2018-19 campaign, but those teams represent only a select few of the 31 NHL franchises that make up the league. Only聽six total points separate the聽third-place team from the fifteenth-placed team in the NHL standings, meaning a three-game losing streak or three-game winning streak puts any team right back in the conversation.When McLellan was let go in Edmonton, general manager Peter Chiarelli said of the decision, one or two points can be the difference between making or missing the playoffs. He's right. In the NHL, an overtime win or loss in the regular season could mean being in or out of the postseason. Every game, every period and every point counts. If general managers get a sense that the team isn't taking advantage of earning those points, they look to how to correct the problem. Sometimes it's players, but more often than not, the coach becomes the scapegoat. Sometimes, a quick change wakes a team up and kicks an organization back into full-effort mode.advertisingScapegoats via CBS Chicago - CBS LocalUnfortunately, for some of these coaches, the wrong person was actually fired. In Chicago, fans and media were floored that Quenneville was let go when you consider the mess the Blackhawks GM had made of the team. Bad contracts, worse trades, and awful cap management left the coach to lead a team that was not nearly competitive enough. Quenneville wasn't playing with a full deck. It was a similar situation in Edmonton where Peter Chiarelli has to be on the hot seat now, after trading Taylor Hall Henrik Lundqvist Jersey Kids , Jordan Eberle, and others, yet hasn't improved the team's defense. He's wasting the best years of Connor McDavid's career. In LA, Stevens was working with an aging team that likely isn't as good as some suggested they might be.advertisingIt's easy as a GM to grasp play that one final card before you're out on your a$$ and fire the coach. If you're lucky, things turn around and you salvage your job. If not, you prolonged the inevitable.What This MeansNo matter why these coaches were fired, don't expect these four to be the only ones served their walking papers. The New Jersey Devils, Pittsburgh Penguins, Florida Panthers and Philadelphia Flyers are having less-than-stellar seasons compared to expectations. BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — For the second game in a row, the Tampa Bay Lightning started off slow. And once again, they rallied for a win.Steven Stamkos scored the tiebreaking goal with 5:16 remaining to lead the Lightning to a 5-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night. It followed a similar performance in the team’s 3-1 win over Carolina on Thursday.“For the first period and a half I didn’t think we had it, that’s another slow start,” Stamkos said. “We need to correct some things there. But this group this year, it just feels different. Just finding that we’re confident we’re going to win. We found a way.”Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Ondrej Palat and Ryan Callahan also scored for to help the Lightning win for the 18th time in 20 games and improve to 35-8-2. Louis Domingue stopped 30 shots.“I think everybody thinks the same way on the team,” Tampa Bay defenseman Mikhail Sergachev said. “We know that we’re going to bounce back. I mean Jimmy Vesey Jersey , look at our group. We have so much skill and big defensemen who can shoot and skate and forwards are super skilled. We always have a feeling that we’re going to bounce back and score goals.”The teams traded goals in each period before Tampa Bay took charge late.The game-winner came off a drop-pass by Kucherov, the NHL’s leading scorer. Stamkos then ripped a hard shot to the blocker side to put the Lightning up for good. Ryan Callahan then added some insurance with 1:19 remaining to make it 5-3.Sam Reinhart, Tage Thompson and Marco Scandella scored for Buffalo, which lost for the second straight night. Linus Ullmark finished with 25 saves.“I thought we worked hard,” Sabres captain Jack Eichel said. “Obviously we didn’t get the outcome we wanted. I thought there was a lot of good there for us.”Scandella gave Buffalo a 3-2 lead at 5:54 of the third, chipping home a pass from Jason Pominville from close range.Just 23 seconds later, the Lightning took advantage of a bad giveaway by Sabres defenseman Lawrence Pilut, and Stamkos found Kucherov for his 22nd goal of the season.The Lightning leaned on Kucherov time and time again throughout the game.“He can do some magical things, that kid,” Cooper said. “Everybody was kind of sleep-walking through that first period but you could see he had the vibe going so when he’s got that happening, you kind of have to get him out there as much as you can. As that game wore on he was driving the bus.”Point opened the scoring just 26 seconds into the game. After a faceoff win in the Buffalo zone, Point buried a rebound for his 29th goal of the year.Reinhart evened the score five minutes later after a Buffalo power play expired. Reinhart put a move on Stamkos in the high slot and placed a wrist shot high to the glove side for his 10th of the season.Thompson gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead just before the end of the first, finishing a 2-on-1 chance into the far corner with 10 seconds left in the period.Palat evened the score at 2-2 on a spectacular play by Sergachev. Sergachev raced to the right, placing a perfect backhand pass to Palat in the slot and Palat’s one-timer went in for his sixth.NOTES: D Nathan Beaulieu, D Matt Hunwick and LW Remi Elie were scratched for the Sabres. … D Anton Stralman, RW Mathieu Joseph and LW Danick Martel were scratched for the Lightning. … The fourth and final meeting between the two teams is on Feb. 21 in Tampa Bay.UP NEXTLightning: At the New York Islanders on Sunday night.Sabres: Begin a five-game road trip on Monday against Edmonton.
