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The Calgary Herald points out that since Mikael Backlund returned three games ago from his training camp injury, he and fellow top-unit forwards Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay have combined for a grand total of two scoring points, each member going minus-5.

“You’re always going to let in goals,” said Backlund, “but we’ve got to get away from letting in two goals every night. We’ve got to start getting two every night. That’s what the team needs. That’s what the coaches expect from us. We’ve got to keep working . . . every shift, skate hard and eventually it’ll come.”

Flames associate coach Craig Hartsburg, too, claims he’s not worried about the trio’s future.

In fact, unrealistic expectations may be gumming up the works.

“A lot of times when your top-end guys struggle, they feel that it’s all on their shoulders,” said Hartsburg. “That’s how good players feel. I think the first thing for them is maybe simplifying things and being more aggressive in certain areas. Put pucks on the net, then, all of a sudden, they’ll get a good bounce and they’ll be on a roll again.

“The (key) is to simplify it and not dwell on past things, and get ready to play their best game (on Friday against the visiting Chicago Blackhawks).”

The remedy to shaping up the entire team’s attack, according to Hartsburg, is straightforward.

“We have to spend more time in the offensive zone . . . with better puck possession and involve more people in holding on to the puck,” he said. “The more time you have it in there, the more shots you get, eventually you’ll break through.”

Meanwhile, Backlund was uncertain how he’d rate the start to his second full campaign in the NHL.

“OK, I would say. Not great. Decent. Pretty good,” said the 22-year-old. “Creating some chances, but we’ve got to put the puck in the net. I’ve had a few chances, so I’ve got to start burying some pucks. And I can get better defensively. Letting in six goals the first three games is kind of tough. Small details, less mistakes.”

"We've got to have a discussion as a group," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock told The Detroit Free Press following last night's 5-2 loss to San Jose. "Do we want to be a good team or not? Like, life just doesn't go on good for you. You make a decision it's going to go good for you. You decide for yourself that you're going to be successful; you decide for yourself that you're going to make a difference; you decide for yourself that you're going to have a good career.

"No one just gives you stuff. Actually, the other team is trying, too. So we've got to make some decisions."

The Raleigh News & Observer says that second-year forward Jeff Skinner said the Canes need to take it upon themselves to turn things around, not rely on personnel moves to be made.

"The guys in this locker room have to figure out how to get a win," he said. "We can't be looking for outside help."

One thing everyone agreed on was that goaltender Cam Ward - or backup Brian Boucher, when he plays - needed more help. After Wednesday, the Hurricanes were 29th in the NHL in both goals against (3.47 a game) and shots against (33.1 a game.)

"We have to do a better job, everyone together, of being a five-man defensive group in our end to limit chances against," captain Eric Staal said.

Ward had 37 saves in the Canes' 5-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday and several were sensational. But he was lifted in the second period Monday against the Philadelphia Flyers and struggled along with the rest of his team in Montreal. Coach Paul Maurice said he could sense frustration in Ward's game.

"It comes from Cam believing in his heart he can play the way he did against Pittsburgh every night," Maurice said. "That's not a realistic standard. ... We can't put him in that position but we've done it."

Maurice, who is in the final year of his contract, has been fired before - by the Hurricanes in 2003 and the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2008. He was asked how difficult it would be now in what might seem like a game-by-game referendum on his job.

"This is the grind that you learn to survive and deal with it as a man, deal with your players, rally your troops, have direct and honest conversations with players that need to have those, " Maurice said. "And make sure that when you're standing behind the bench you show that confidence in your team."

While Staal is the captain and the Canes have leaders in the room, Maurice said his is the voice that needed to be heard, and he needed to provide the leadership.

"It's not on them," Maurice said. "We want to play a far superior team game (and) I will ask them to individually prepare themselves. But this is now the time, in the most heat, that it's not on the captain, it's not on the players. It's on me."

Not even Nick Leddy anticipated the offensive part of his game blossoming this quickly, according to The Chicago Tribune.

"I don't think so, no," the soft-spoken 20-year-old said Thursday. "I've gotten a couple of lucky ones here and there."

Leddy leads Blackhawks defensemen with two goals and 11 assists in 19 games. The fact Leddy has turned into one of the Hawks' top D-men — and is moving up the ranks league-wide — is made more impressive when you realize the Eden Prairie, Minn., native has appeared in just 65 career games.

"It's just maybe a little more confidence," Leddy said of his rapid improvement. "The more games I play the more confident I'll become. I just want to keep learning."

With poise and speed, Leddy has taken over many of the puck-moving duties from the departed Brian Campbell, who was dealt to the Panthers during the offseason. Leddy has helped spark a Hawks offense that has scored 21 goals during the team's current four-game winning streak.

The Tribune notes coach Joel Quenneville has increased Leddy's playing time as he has logged at least 20 minutes in 11 of the last 14 games, including a game- and career-high 27:20 Sunday night during the Hawks' 6-3 victory over the Oilers. Leddy ranks third among Hawks defensemen with an average of 21:36 this season.

Those minutes have been important with injuries to a now-healed Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook, who will miss his second consecutive game with an upper-body injury Friday night when the Hawks face the Flames.

"You know (Leddy's) going to get better and better with experience and confidence," Quenneville said.

Defensively, Leddy has held his own in the Hawks' end. He sports a plus-4 rating after finishing a minus-3 during his rookie season in 2010-11. Still, it's the eye-popping offensive play that has Quenneville almost gushing.

"I like when (Leddy) gets his shot through and I love how he comes up with speed on the rush," Quenneville said. "His play recognition coming out of his own end is good. He's making a lot of direct plays. His patience level with the puck is good. It's tough to say exactly how high (he) goes offensively."

The New York Post writes that after entering November with a 4-3-3 record, the Rangers have vaulted near the top of the Eastern Conference by putting together a seven-game winning streak. And, according to coach John Tortorella, all facets of the team have contributed to the team’s recent success.

“We’re playing pretty good team defense, along with some really good goaltending, and I think that’s helped us a little bit to score some goals,” Tortorella said after practice yesterday. “We’ve won games in different ways, and I think the mindset of the team is to continue to get better.”

The Rangers will get a chance to rest and regroup over the next week, with only tomorrow night’s game in Montreal in between Tuesday’s 4-2 win over the Islanders and Wednesday’s game against the Panthers in Florida.

That window will allow the Rangers to get in some extra work in practice and some extra rest away from the ice after a hectic first few weeks of the season.

“[The break] lets you take care of a few things that you might have been battling,” defenseman Michael Sauer said. “It lets you do some strength stuff, some conditioning, and just take care of some things that you otherwise wouldn’t be able to.”

But the Rangers are also hoping that the break won’t slow the momentum they have created in building their longest winning streak in over two years.

“We want to win as many games as we can,” center Brian Boyle said. “It’s a good feeling right now, but it’s still November. We just have to keep getting better. To keep winning throughout the year, we just have to keep getting better.’’

Tortorella was pessimistic about defenseman Anton Stralman making his debut anytime soon.

“He’s still a ways [away],” Tortorella said of Stralman, who signed with the Rangers on Nov. 5. “I still think there’s some work to do there. I don’t know what the lineup will be in Montreal, but I still think we have a number of things to accomplish with him.”

After a 4-1 win over Florida last night, The St. Louis Post Dispatch points out that the Blues closed a five-game Scottrade stand with a 4-0-1 record, getting nine of 10 possible points. The only blemish was a shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. The homestead act began with the hiring of Ken Hitchcock, who replaced Davis Payne and inherited a 6-7 team searching for consistency.

Blues general manager Doug Armstrong made the move 13 games into the season, in part because the Blues can not afford to languish in the tightly-contested Western Conference. Hitchcock's team did what needed to be done: get back in the race. The Blues were 14th in the Western Conference when the stand began. The win Thursday boosted them into the top eight.

"This is going to be a different animal on the road," said Hitchcock, whose team plays in Minnesota on Saturday. "We have to see if we can keep this level up. We certainly have gotten ourselves back in the race here. Now we have to take good play back on the road."

Blues captain David Backes, who scored his fifth and sixth goals of the season, offered this: "He's got a different way of motivating. I think he's given a couple of guys a clean slate and they relish that. What Davis was doing was just a different approach, it wasn't bad or worse, it's just 'Hitch 'has a different way.

"The clean slate has helped a lot of guys rejuvenate their game and bring a lot more effort ... stop thinking as much and just go out there and play."

The Washington Post writes that unlike when the Capitals struggled last season, there is a different feeling about this stretch of 10 games as they’ve gone 3-6-1. These losses can’t really be boiled down to bad bounces, unfortunate or uncontrollable circumstances. Many of these defeats have been a product of Washington’s bad habits.

While it is November and the Capitals are without Mike Green (strained right groin muscle), they need to find a way to get things on track, or at least a way to not look bewildered in the face of adversity the way they did as Winnipeg surged against them Thursday night.

“Some games we’ve been losing battles and losing games and some games we’ve been winning them and losing games,” Karl Alzner said. “Sometimes you just can’t put it together. It’s five, six minutes, 10 minutes of bad hockey or not-good-enough hockey and teams are beating us.

“I don’t know if that’s maybe because we started out the way we did and teams are always really amped up to play us and they always give us one of their best games,” Alzner continued. “I don’t know if that has something to do with it, or if it’s just completely our fault that we’re not doing it. Obviously we got a bit of a reality check here: Three in a row and terrible in the last 10 games. We’ve got to figure it out — soon.”

The negative traits seem a consistent refrain at this stage — turnovers in all three zones, a failure to outwork opponents and win battles for loose pucks and untimely penalties, all coupled with an inability to count on their offense.

Asked about some of the commonalities seen in their recent losses, Brooks Laich said the Capitals must turn their focus to defense.

“We’re certainly not playing very well. We have a lot of work to go, a lot of room to improve, but when you’re struggling you’ve got to strip your game down to the basics,” Laich said. “Start with your defensive play, start with strong defensive games. Little things that matter; blocking shots, playing solid in our D zone, working hard and from that everything else will stem.”

Email: chris.nichols@sportsnet.rogers.com

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­Chris Nichols is Sportsnet.ca's fantasy hockey writer.