'It's another failed season,' says frustrated Eichel

Jack Eichel hates losing.

The Buffalo Sabres phenom wrapped up the home portion of his second NHL season Wednesday night, and a 2-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens did little to take the sour taste of another wasted campaign out of his mouth.

"It sucks," Eichel said of an offseason coming far too soon, according to the Times Herald's Bill Hoppe. "We didn't make any improvement from last year. It's another failed season."

Buffalo sits 33-35-12 with two games left.

Should the Sabres win out, they'll finish with 82 points, a one-point improvement over Eichel's rookie year, when Dan Bylsma made his debut behind the Sabres' bench.

Clearly, though, Eichel views anything less than a playoff spot as a disappointment. And expectations were high coming into the 2015 second overall draft pick's sophomore season.

A high-ankle sprain forced Eichel to miss the first two months of 2016-17, and while the Sabres were able to somewhat tread water without No. 15 - Buffalo was 7-9-5 on the night Eichel made his season debut, on Nov. 29 - they were never able to hit a top gear they thought they had.

Personally, it was a stellar season for Eichel, despite his injury. He's second on the Sabres in goals (24) and first in points (57) despite playing only 59 games.

Eichel's proved he's ready to take his game to the next level. Now the Sabres must do the same.