In this week’s edition of the NHL Power Rankings, Washington, Dallas, and St. Louis all stayed put in the top three, but Florida and Los Angeles made a surge into the top five. Aleksander Barkov has erupted over the past two games, and he is certainly someone to watch moving forward considering his potential to be an NHL superstar.
I’m looking forward to bringing more good news (and pain!) in 2016!
1. Washington Capitals (58 points)
Last week: 1
Not only are they firing on all cylinders, but they now have more points than the Dallas Stars. Braden Holtby continues to outdo himself after an amazing shutout in Buffalo, and when the Sabres found offense in the nation’s capital, Washington’s offense smothered the rebuilding squad. Their winning streak has now reached nine, the same streak that Montreal had to start the season. Those throwback home jerseys are becoming a big deal.
2. Dallas Stars (57 points)
Last week: 2
Dallas probably gave their division rivals a window of hope with a really bad loss to Columbus. Meanwhile, Kari Lehtonen’s door is continuing to close after being pulled in that same game, which is a shame because he just shut the Blues out the game before. Alex Goligoski remains consistent this season, with four assists in his last six games and a 4 +/- in December, giving him 13 assists and a 12 +/- for the season.
3. St. Louis Blues (50 points)
Last week: 3
Splitting a home-and-home with Dallas is an accomplishment for the third team to reach 50 points this season. Alex Pietrangelo may have accomplished clutch status in the Blues’ overtime win against another division rival. He helped set up Dmitrij Jaskin’s goal to open the scoring, then started the breakaway that led to Alexander Steen’s game-winner against Nashville. He now has 13 assists for the season following his two-assist performance.
4. Florida Panthers (46 points)
Last week: 7
The Krazy Katz are killing it! Seven straight wins and the Panthers are now on top of the Atlantic Division. Who knew? Of all the young players ready to break out, Aleksander Barkov may be on the loose. He has four goals and an assist in two games and currently has a shooting percentage of 14.1%. As ESPN Fantasy Hockey said, “How naive of us to think that humans aren’t being replaced by machines”.
5. Los Angeles Kings (48 points)
Last week: 9
Shredding the Pacific Division is a good way to move up in the Power Rankings. They beat Arizona in overtime, then routed Vancouver and Edmonton on the road. Beating Calgary in the historically challenging Saddledome could pop the Pacific Division champagne bottle cork very early. Tyler Toffoli continues to reach towards stardom, tallying a hat trick against Vancouver and six goals in four games. He should thank Anze Kopitar, as he had four assists, including one for each of Toffoli’s goal, in the Vancouver game. He assisted Toffoli again in Edmonton, giving Kopitar six assists in three games. Talk about a dangerous duo!
6. Chicago Blackhawks (46 points)
Last week: 4
After getting shut out in Dallas and shut down against Carolina (their only goal was with two seconds left in the third period), Chicago took their frustrations out on the Arizona Coyotes. Andrew Desjardins has being very quiet throughout his five-year career, but he scored two goals against Arizona, which lost 7-5.
7. New York Islanders (45 points)
Last week: 5
They had just two games, and both were against Toronto. After an offensive disappointment at home, they ripped off six goals in the Air Canada Centre. Thomas Greiss now has to take over with Jaroslav Halak on the IR, but Greiss happens to have the same number of wins as his counterpart. He also has not given up more than three goals in any game this year (and a 2.09 goal average). Is this a sign of things to come for the 29-year-old’s career?
8. Minnesota Wild (44 points)
Last week: 8
They had a bad loss to Pittsburgh, but they redeemed themselves with a win against Detroit. The Wild are beginning to look underrated with St. Louis and Dallas taking control in the Central Division. With an abundance of scoring threats and stifling defense (eighth in goals allowed), look for the Wild to be a dark horse for the Stanley Cup.
9. New York Rangers (46 points)
Last week: 10
The Tampa Bay Lightning do not look like serious contenders this year, but you cannot ignore the fact that the Rangers looked good on national television. That could be all the Rangers need to bust loose again. Dominic Moore tallied an assist and the game-winning goal for the Rangers.
10. Montreal Canadiens (45 points)
Last week: 12
Beating Tampa Bay was as big of a win as any team will have this season. The Stanley Cup contenders finally ended their devastating slide in the standings with a thrilling shootout win. They then traded Zach Kassian for Ben Scrivens. Benny showed promise against Florida, and he had a highlight reel save early. Despite the loss, Scrivens may be bridge that Montreal needs to get to Carey Price. Now, however, they must win the Winter Classic, and team #11 made that goal much easier.
11. Boston Bruins (44 points)
Last week: 6
For real? The defense died against Buffalo, the offense died in Ottawa, and the second Ottawa game proved that the B’s have too many goons on their team. To make matters worse, David Krejci is “week-to-week”, and Brad Marchand is suspended for three games. Unless Jimmy Hayes has an encore for his hat trick against Ottawa, I dare the Canadiens to lose the Winter Classic.
12. Detroit Red Wings (43 points)
Last week: 11
They showed promise after beating Nashville, but the L’s are back at it. After being pulled against Winnipeg, Jimmy Howard might need a suitcase, or some Kool-Aid while he bench warms, because he lost the starting goalie job. Pavel Datsyuk scored the only two goals in Detroit’s two most recent losses. Petr Mrazek has made 77 saves in his last 82 shots faced (93.9% Save Percentage).
13. Nashville Predators (43 points)
Last week: 13
The “Average” continues. 1-1-1 in their last three games. Good comeback in St. Louis to preserve one point, but the offense really shined against the suddenly porous New York Rangers’ goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Filip Forsberg scored in that game, and after just three goals in October and November combined, he has seven goals in December.
14. Ottawa Senators (42 points)
Last week: 15
They were impressive in their home win against Boston, but they landed with a major thud in their next two games. Max McCormick recorded his first career point in the 7-3 loss to the Bruins. Unfortunately, his achievement was overshadowed because Mark Borowiecki played stupid when he tried to fight…Zdeno Chara. He also got a 10-minute misconduct later in the game.
15. Colorado Avalanche (38 points)
Last week: 18
They continue to shock the NHL. I had this team at 29 in my first Power Rankings, but they have burned through their tough competition ever since. After losing in overtime to Arizona, their offense came through in a win over San Jose. The bad news? Reto Berra, who has been one of the better backup goalies of the season, is now on the IR.
16. New Jersey (43 points)
Last week: 14
I put Colorado ahead of a surprising New Jersey Devils team because of a disturbing discovery. The Devils have lost at home to Columbus (TWICE!) and Anaheim. They then looked dreadful in Raleigh, with just 20 shots on goal in a 3-1 loss to the Hurricanes. I do not care that they have won twice in a row after beating Carolina (at home) and Ottawa. The Jersey Boys need to learn how to beat the cupcake teams before they can be taken seriously.
17. Tampa Bay Lightning (40 points)
Last week: 16
After shutting down Columbus, they gave Montreal and the Rangers key wins. They currently stand in sixth in a crowded Atlantic Division, a sorry site for the defending Eastern Conference champions. Nikita Kucherov has at least one point in his last seven games, including nine assists, and ten of his last twelve.
18. Calgary Flames (36 points)
Last week: 19
The Flames made history with their 11th straight victory at home, a franchise record, against Edmonton. Then the streak ended with a 1-0 loss to Anaheim. So they took their frustrations out on Ryan Kesler (for good reason).
19. Philadelphia Flyers (37 points)
Last week: 17
The West Coast road trip is off to a bad start. They lost two straight 4-2 games to Anaheim and San Jose. They will try to avoid the California sweep when they face Los Angeles on January 2. Claude Giroux got a lucky face-off goal by the bay, and it was his first goal since December 10.
20. Winnipeg Jets (36 points)
Last week: 21
Desperate to get out of last place in the Central Division, the Jets had a good week in Manitoba. After Conor Hellebuyck recorded his first career shutout against Pittsburgh, the offense shredded Detroit. It was Winnipeg’s third straight win at home. That streak will be stalled, however, as the Jets go on a five-game road trip in the southwestern United States. Bryan Little continues to tear up the stat sheet. With the only goal against Pittsburgh and three assists against Detroit, Little has four goals and four assists in his last five games.
21. San Jose Sharks (38 points)
Last week: 23
They had been 1-7 at home since November 7, but they finally turned the tide with a 4-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Joe Pavelski had two late goals in the game, and Logan Couture had two assists in his first game since December 9 and just his third game since October 13.
22. Pittsburgh Penguins (38 points)
Last week: 24
The Pens got a big win in St. Paul on Saturday, and they salvaged another point in a shootout loss to Toronto. Marc-Andre Fleury has returned to practice, and his return to games will be highly welcomed. The Penguins are 2-4-1 with Fleury, who has just a 2.29 goals against average.
23. Vancouver Canucks (37 points)
Last week: 20
Yikes. After beating Edmonton in overtime, the Canucks ran into a runaway train, losing 5-0 to Los Angeles. He had a bad game against the Kings, but Jacob Markstrom has remained a reliable goalie with Ryan Miller sidelined. It will be interesting to see what Willie Desjardins does once Miller returns.
24. Arizona Coyotes (37 points)
Last week: 26
The goalie situation remains a mystery. Anders Lindback shined in an overtime win against Colorado, but Chicago lit him up the very next game. Louis Domingue has not been stellar either, giving up four goals in an overtime loss to Los Angeles and allowing three against Chicago after replacing Lindback. Oliver Ekman-Larsson had two goals against the Kings and three assists against the Hawks, which also allowed seasoned veteran Shane Doan to record a hat trick.
25. Carolina Hurricanes (35 points)
Last week: 25
*Face palm* After Carolina had big wins against New Jersey and Chicago, they had a chance to make it three straight wins in Newark. Instead, they allowed two third period goals and lost 3-2. Eric Staal scored both goals in the loss, his first goals since December 6.
26. Edmonton Oilers (33 points)
Last week: 22
They looked like a possible contender two weeks ago, but it has been downhill ever since. They are 1-5-1 in their last seven games. Benoit Pouliot had been a bright spot for the fading Oilers, scoring three times in his last two games. He can also score without a helmet, as he showed in Calgary.
27. Anaheim Ducks (34 points)
Last week: 29
I still think this team can turn things around and make the playoffs. They have certainly looked better since Christmas break. John Gibson is one to thank, saving 24 of Philadelphia’s 26 shots to win 4-2. He then went on to shut out Calgary in Canada. Is this the year Gibson locks up the starting position?
28. Toronto Maple Leafs (35 points)
Last week: 28
Two strong road wins for Jonathan Bernier sandwiched a six-goal debacle against the Islanders on home ice. At least he is not consistently bad now. After a slow start to the season, Nazem Kadri has one goal and seven assists in his last seven games.
29. Buffalo Sabres (34 points)
Last week: 27
Beating the Bruins with five goals in the third period was a shock to the system, but being handily swept in their home-and-home against Washington proves that there are still growing pains in Buffalo. With two goals and an assist against Boston, Ryan O’Reilly now has six goals and seven assists in December, and he leads the team in goals and assists.
30. Columbus Blue Jackets (31 points)
Last week: 30
John Tortorella finally called his team out this week, and the Jackets responded with a surprising win over Dallas. They did not look good in the Sunshine State, however, and they will need more performances like the one against Dallas in order to be taken seriously in the NHL.