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While it’s always dangerous to make conclusions on any NHL team this early in the season, we do know some teams have not started their seasons as well as expected.

Three teams in particular have had bad starts but can turn things around in short order:

Columbus Blue Jackets

Record: 1-2-0

Why They Can Turn Things Around: The Blue Jackets dropped their first game of the season to the Nashville Predators 2-1 before beating the Minnesota Wild 7-4. But Columbus dropped its second game of the year 3-2 to the New Jersey Devils.

Having their two losses decided by one goal is a sign that the Jackets aren’t that far off from reeling off a string of victories.

Columbus’ next stretch of games is highly challenging, facing the Colorado Avalanche, Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars and Washington Capitals – but after that, in their next six games, they have ‘gimme’ games against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders and Calgary Flames.

So long as the Blue Jackets put up a strong fight against the Avs, Stars, Bolts and Caps, they’ve got the potential to surge up the Metropolitan Division standings. 

Columbus’ explosion of seven goals in the Minnesota game is an indication of how powerful the Jackets’ offense can be. But scoring only three goals in the other two games indicates that consistency with the puck has been a problem for this team. They’ll need to be better from game to game to get into a playoff position in the Metro, but we gave the Blue Jackets a vote of confidence as a playoff team this summer, and we’re sticking by that prediction.

Los Angeles Kings

Record: 1-2-1

Why They Can Turn Things Around:The Kings haven’t performed well in their challenging schedule, losing to the Avalanche, Winnipeg Jets and Wild so far. In their 6-5 shootout win over Vegas, they blew a lead and then had to come back to tie it.

While the Kings did have moments where they looked like a guaranteed Stanley Cup playoff team – narrowly losing to the Jets and Wild in one-goal contests – Los Angeles has struggled to close things out and rise in the ranks of the relatively soft Pacific Division. But there’s good news on the horizon, and that’s coming in the form of the soft-touches they’re going to get in their next seven games.

While there are strong teams in the Kings’ way in their next seven games – the Carolina Hurricanes, St. Louis Blues and Stars – there are more teams that L.A. absolutely should be beating, including the Penguins, Predators, Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks. If the Kings can win a couple games against the Canes, Blues and Stars, they’ll be in a great position to go on a winning tear and knock off the others.

The Kings have had problems on defense, with 3.75 goals against per game. But their 2.75 goals-for per game aren't enough, either. Thus, there’s lots of room for improvement for this L.A. team, and we see the Kings getting back on track with a strong stretch of hockey from now until the end of this month.

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Tampa Bay Lightning

Record: 1-2-1

Why They Can Turn Things Around: It’s been mostly misery for the Lightning this season, with Tampa Bay getting outscored by a combined score of 13-9 in season-opening losses to the Ottawa Senators, New Jersey Devils and Capitals.

Tampa Bay did beat the Boston Bruins for its only win thus far, and the team didn't lose by more than two goals to the others. The loss to the Capitals came in overtime as well.

That said, Tampa’s upcoming schedule is going to get challenging very soon. In five of their next six games, the Lightning could well turn things around with winnable games against the Detroit Red Wings, Blue Jackets, Blackhawks, Anaheim Ducks and Predators. After that, the road ahead gets considerably more difficult for the Bolts, as they’ll be taking on the Stars, Utah Mammoth, Avalanche, Golden Knights, Capitals, New York Rangers, Florida Panthers and Vancouver Canucks. 

Only three teams have a worse goals-against average than Tampa Bay’s 4.00, so the key area of improvement is clear for this Bolts team. Andrei Vasilevskiy must play like an elite netminder again, and his teammates have got to stop allowing 31.5 shots per game.

By mid-November, the Lightning could either be at or near the top of the highly competitive Atlantic Division – or they could be mired in the mushy middle of the Eastern Conference. But if they put their foot on the gas and make the most of their opportunities against the league’s lesser lights, the harder part of the schedule will be easier for Lightning fans and players to handle. 

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The Vancouver Canucks begin their first big test of the season on Thursday.

The team has had a middling start to its season, putting up a 1-2-0 record so far. Vancouver got off to a winning start by thoroughly beating the Calgary Flames in Game 1 before losing to the Edmonton Oilers and St. Louis Blues in regulation.

But if the Canucks were hoping to get a break from the NHL schedule-maker, they were sorely disappointed.

Between this Thursday and Sunday, the Canucks will play three times on the road. They get a true litmus test in the form of the Dallas Stars on Thursday before a must-win game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday. On Sunday, they take on the Washington Capitals.

The even crazier part of the Canucks’ schedule is that Vancouver doesn’t have a full two days off between Friday and Sunday’s games. The Blackhawks game is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET, and the Capitals game is at 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday. That means the Canucks will play three games in about 64-and-a-half hours.

This is what NHLers mean when they talk about young players learning to prepare their bodies for the grind of the schedule. This is why keeping a level head and a strong focus is so important – you have to navigate through a schedule that never feels particularly fair to you, and that probably means you’re not at 100 percent much of the time.

Now, you might look at the Canucks’ schedule and say, “Hey, Vancouver does get a break here by playing a ‘gimme’ game against the sad-sack Blackhawks.” And that is true, considering the Canucks won each meeting in the last three seasons – but you also have to acknowledge that the Stars are one of the best teams in the league, and last season, the Capitals were the best team in the Eastern Conference. 

The Stars and Capitals have gotten off to strong starts to the year, with Dallas going 3-0-0 and Washington going 3-1-0. And the Hawks are 2-2-1 so far.

So each of the Canucks’ next three games could be losses that send them sliding down the Pacific Division standings – or they could be three wins that give them the foundation to climb to the top of the Pacific and stay there. So Vancouver needs to make an early statement.

How The Vancouver Canucks Performed During 4+ Game Road Trips In 2024–25With the Canucks now embarking on their first five-game road trip of the 2025–26 season, let’s take a look at how they performed in their five 4+ road game road trips during 2024–25.

It’s not going to be a cakewalk for the Canucks to reverse their slow start, and they will need both goalies – Thatcher Demko and Kevin Lankinen – to get them through this brutal stretch of the schedule.

Demko's played better so far, with a 1.54 goals-against average and .944 save percentage. Maintaining those types of impressive performances throughout the season will be a massive boost for the Canucks, which ranked sixth-last for save percentage in 2024-25, according to naturalstattrick.com. 

In any case, the Canucks need better performances than they’ve got thus far – especially on offense, where their average of 2.67 goals-for per game is tied for 25th in the NHL – and they need those improved performances right away. Vancouver has the talent to be a Stanley Cup playoff team this season. Still, they need to be consistently good in all sorts of situations, including this upcoming punishing stretch of games, if they’re going to get back into the post-season this year. 

The Canucks’ next few games could prove to be a positive harbinger of what’s to come – or they could add to a losing stretch that puts them behind the eight-ball and pushes them lower in the standings. It’s potentially a rollercoaster situation for Vancouver, and how the Canucks respond to this challenge will begin to shape the organization's identity this year.

For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.

Mistakes hurt Flyers, who get outclassed by Jets in 5-2 loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Flyers didn’t play a good game against a top team and the result showed it.

They fell to the Jets, 5-2, Thursday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.

Owen Tippett drew the Flyers within 2-1 in the middle stanza. But Winnipeg responded just 1:21 minutes later with a goal off a whacky bounce to send the Flyers into second intermission trailing by two.

About midway through the third period, Mark Scheifele put a dagger in the Flyers with his second goal of the night, this one on the power play.

“I think it just comes down to execution,” Tippett said. “I don’t think they did anything special. It just comes down to execution and they buried on their chances and we didn’t.”

Matvei Michkov picked up a late goal before the Jets tacked on an empty-netter.

“We made some mistakes, for sure,” Travis Konecny said. “There was definitely opportunity there. I think they came out flat and so did we. It was not how we wanted to start the game. Regroup, put it aside.”

The Flyers (1-2-1) have dropped three of their first four games. The schedule hasn’t been easy. The Flyers have faced the two-time defending champion Panthers twice, a Hurricanes team that has made the playoffs in seven straight seasons and a Jets club that won the Presidents’ Trophy last season.

“It’s a tough stretch,” Rick Tocchet said Tuesday. “You’ve got to play them eventually. We’ve got some quality opponents right away. There’s no easy game in the NHL.

“We go from the Stanley Cup champs to the Presidents’ Trophy champs. It is a tall order, but even in practice today, I see guys want these moments. … We’re looking for big moments from players. But in the meantime, you have to have the small moments to add up to the big ones.”

The Flyers don’t see the Jets (3-1-0) again until April 11 when the clubs meet at Canada Life Centre.

• At morning skate, Tocchet said the Flyers would be in trouble if they committed turnovers against a team like Winnipeg.

The Flyers had a bad one lead directly to a Jets goal in the second period. Nikita Grebenkin couldn’t handle a pretty low-key pass from Travis Sanheim. Winnipeg pounced on the mishap as Scheifele blasted a shot past Samuel Ersson to put the Flyers down 2-0.

It was a critical momentum swing because the Flyers had just come up empty on a power play.

• Ersson was not particularly sharp and the Flyers weren’t, either.

The netminder surrendered four goals on 14 shots.

The Jets opened the scoring 5:45 minutes into the action when Vladislav Namestnikov buried a rebound at the doorstep. Before Winnipeg got the puck in deep, it looked like Jett Luchanko had an opportunity to clear the defensive zone, but he was quickly pressured and lost the puck.

“They made a good play, I’ve just got to be able to advance the puck,” Luchanko said. “They were able to pounce on us from there.”

In the second period, the Jets countered that Tippett goal when a shot ricocheted off Adam Ginning’s stick and then clanged off Noah Cates’ backside to make it 3-1. On the NBC Sports Philadelphia broadcast, Ginning could be seen saying “no way” after the puck went into the net.

“Ginning makes a good block and then it takes a bad bounce,” Ersson said. “It’s a little sh–ty goal.”

Connor Hellebuyck, last season’s Hart Trophy winner as the league’s MVP, stopped 15 of the Flyers’ 17 shots.

• Michkov recorded his first point with his goal late in the third period. That could be a silver lining for the Flyers, who would love to see him get going offensively.

• Cam York made his season debut after missing the first three games with a lower-body injury.

The 24-year-old played on the top defensive pair alongside Travis Sanheim and finished with 22:32 minutes.

With York’s return, Emil Andrae was sent back to AHL affiliate Lehigh Valley.

The Flyers play their third of four straight home games Saturday when they welcome the Wild (7 p.m. ET/NBCSP).