Steven Stamkos scored his first goal with the Nashville Predators on Saturday, but the thrill of the achievement wasn't enough to outweigh yet another loss for his new club.
The Predators fell 5-2 to the Detroit Red Wings, marking their fifth consecutive loss to start the season. Nashville is the only team in the NHL yet to record a point in the standings.
"It's the best league in the world for a reason, and it's tough to win hockey games," Stamkos said, according to the team's website. "You have to earn it, and we have to play a full 60 (minutes). I think it's just been a little too sporadic, in terms of our efforts in games, and we'll look to change that."
Stamkos' tally - a vintage one-timer on the power play - tied the game at 2-2 early in the third period, but Detroit went ahead less than three minutes later before adding two empty netters.
"It's tough sledding, for sure," Stamkos said. "We can't just keep saying the same things over and over in terms of, 'OK, the effort was there, OK, we had a lot of shots, we had a lot of looks.' At some point, we've got to go do it. ... It's certainly not fun when you're not winning, and it's a tough league to win in, no question about it. But, we're a better group than what we're showing right now."
Stamkos' arrival in Nashville was the exclamation mark on an offseason splurge that also saw the Predators add Jonathan Marchessault and Brady Skjei in free agency.
After a fourth consecutive loss earlier this week, Marchessault said the Predators are a "fragile" group.
Head coach Andrew Brunette also believes inconsistency is plaguing his club.
"(We had) really positive energy compared to the last two games ... but it's kind of been the inconsistency in our game right now at key moments," he noted. "And I think individually, we don't have a lot of guys going. I think they're frustrated, and it's a hard game to play when you’re frustrated."
Nashville's next opportunity to find the win column comes Tuesday against the Boston Bruins.
