The Dallas Stars' stars say they're not panicking - yet.
0-1-1 thus far this season, Tyler Seguin and linemate Jamie Benn - two of Dallas' most prolific talents, both pointless and sporting a minus-3 rating - say that Dallas will continue to operate with confidence and stay the course, despite the apparent early season malaise.
"I haven't thought about pressure at all," Seguin said Monday. "It's two games, and nobody is pressing the panic button."
Fans may be pressing the button - in fact, they may be mashing it desperately as they cast about for any tiny glimmer of a hint of hope to find in the lackluster opening to this season - but Seguin and Benn maintain that inside the locker room, everything is just fine.
"We've got high expectations for ourselves, and we know we have to get better," Benn said. "We know we have the responsibility now, that we're not going to have any easy nights anymore. We have to find a way to dig deep and create things offensively."
Benn and Seguin both finished in the top 10 in the NHL in scoring last season, Seguin landing in the fourth spot with 84 points and Benn finding himself in a tie for 9th with 79. Benn was a key member of the Canadian gold-medal winning team at the 2014 Olympics and Seguin has already won a Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins.
Through two games - and two losses - Seguin has six shots on goal and Benn five. The pair led the team in shot attempts with 11. Each has seen sure-thing goals bounce off posts, get blocked or carom wide of the net.
"There are areas where there might be rust maybe, but nobody is making excuses," Seguin said. "We have to compete harder, and we will."
Head coach Lindy Ruff thinks that the offense will function, and function well, once these two get going.
"I still think in that game, the best opportunities came from those guys," Ruff said of a 4-1 loss Saturday to Nashville. "But we need to finish, too."
But Benn and Seguin are their own harshest critics and know that the most pressure they face will come from them.
"Nobody puts more pressure on us than we do," Benn said.
They feel the pressure - they're just not panicking.
