from Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News,
Jack Eichel, all of 20 years old, has clearly had enough with the morose brand of hockey this team is playing almost every game.
After a 3-1 loss to the Boston Bruins in TD Garden that wasn't nearly as close as the score might say, a red-faced Eichel went berserk. He fired some pieces of equipment into his duffel bag, pounded others on his locker seat and drove the bag hard into the rubberized floor at one point.
There were also some choice four-letter words spliced into the outburst of Eichel, who stormed out of the room without speaking to reporters even as a team PR official inquired if he would do so. Normal media practice in such spots might be to skewer a player -- especially such a young one -- for forsaking his league-mandated obligations, win or lose.
But this case is an exception. This is the face of the franchise clearly reaching his breaking point after a loss to his hometown team. And his actions spoke louder than any quote he could give reporters on this day.
Told about Eichel's tantrum, Sabres coach Dan Bylsma nodded over the anger described.
"I think every one of us should be," Bylsma said. "We know the situation we're in and we know how desperate we are at this point in the season to win hockey games. We should all find that desperation, that urgency and that anger."
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