NHL Power Rankings: Penguins Free Falling as Islanders and Avalanche Rise
Every season has ebbs and flows.
And by the time the calendar flips to spring, it's all about timing.
Drop in a timely run of victories and your playoff chances are enhanced. Lose a few games in a row at the wrong time, particularly against opponents with whom you are dueling for postseason position, and your hopes of a Stanley Cup parade are dashed.
Such is the case for the New York Islanders, Colorado Avalanche and Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Islanders and Avalanche have found their respective strides at the right time, with each going 7-2-1 over their last 10 games to maneuver into playoff positions entering Wednesday night's games. The Penguins, on the other hand, haven't been quite so fortunate, having lost four straight entering Wednesday to fall just below the Eastern Conference cut line.
There's no such concern at the top of the league standings, however, where the Boston Bruins have gone 7-3 in their last 10, opened a 20-point lead on their nearest pursuers in the Atlantic Division and held onto the top spot in B/R's Power Rankings for yet another week.
That makes 19 in a row with either a sole or shared hold on the No. 1 position for Boston, which is followed in the top five by the Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils, Vegas Golden Knights and Toronto Maple Leafs. Only the latter two of the group had any movement during the week, with the Golden Knights leaping into fourth and Toronto settling for fifth.
The B/R voting panel awarded 32 points for first place and one point for 32nd to come up with the weekly list. Teams' last rankings and how they moved are shown alongside each updated placement. Scroll through to see where your favorites landed, and drop a thought or two of your own in the comments.
Nos. 32-26: Sharks, Blue Jackets, Blackhawks, Ducks, Canadiens, Flyers, Coyotes
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32. San Jose Sharks (Last Week: 31/Move: -1)
The Sharks had three one-goal leads in Edmonton but lost them all in a 5-4 OT defeat. It was their 12th loss in 13 games this season and extended a winless skid against the Oilers that goes back to 2019-20.
31. Columbus Blue Jackets (Last Week: 32/Move: +1)
It's largely about moral victories for the Blue Jackets at this point and they secured one on Tuesday after coming back to defeat Washington in OT in a game they trailed by three goals in the first period.
30. Chicago Blackhawks (Last Week: 29/Move: -1)
A 5-0 blanking in Colorado was not only a second straight loss for the Blackhawks but also dropped their road record to 10-22-3, which is 30th among 32 teams and leads only Columbus and Arizona.
29. Anaheim Ducks (Last Week: 30/Move: +1)
A 5-1 home loss to Calgary was bad enough for the Ducks, but things strayed toward worse when forward Troy Terry left the game after taking a hit early in the third period and didn't return. His 20 goals and 53 points are second on the team.
28. Montréal Canadiens (Last Week: 27/Move: -1)
The Canadiens bounced back from a Saturday loss to Tampa Bay with a defeat of the Lightning on Tuesday, but forward Josh Anderson left the game after crashing into the net following a collision and will not play Thursday against Boston.
27. Philadelphia Flyers (Last Week: 28/Move: +1)
A Tuesday night defeat of Florida was the second win in seven games for the Flyers and moved John Tortorella to the brink of becoming the 12th coach with 700 wins. He's 699-573-144 with 37 ties across 21 NHL seasons with five teams.
26. Arizona Coyotes (Last Week: 26/Move: 0)
It'll be a late-season push toward .500 for the streaking Coyotes, who'd won four straight and had points in eight straight games before a 2-1 loss at Winnipeg on Tuesday. Their 27 wins are already the highest for a season since 2019-20, which is also the last time they made the playoffs.
Nos. 25-21: Blues, Canucks, Red Wings, Sabres, Capitals
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25. St. Louis Blues (Last Week: 25/Move: 0)
Goalie Jordan Binnington returned to the bench but did not play in Tuesday's 3-2 shootout loss to Detroit after serving a two-game suspension for roughing and unsportsmanlike conduct for an incident with Minnesota's Ryan Hartman last week.
24. Vancouver Canucks (Last Week: 24/Move: 0)
It was a measuring stick on Tuesday for the Canucks, who dropped a 4-3 home decision to Vegas and lost for just the second time in nine games. "You're playing against one of the better teams and you've got to be prepared to play," coach Rick Tocchet said. "I don't think we were ready for it."
23. Detroit Red Wings (Last Week: 23/Move: 0)
It'll take a big stretch push for the Red Wings after a 3-9-1 run through 13 games that's left them eight points back of the second Eastern wild-card spot. "It's been a tough stretch of late," coach Derek Lalonde said. "We've talked about having something to play for a little bit, where our morale was."
22. Buffalo Sabres (Last Week 20/Move: -2)
The pressure of a late-season playoff push hasn't yielded positive results for the Sabres, who've gone 2-8-2 in their last 12 games. "It's the first time in a while this team's been close to the playoffs," forward Tage Thompson said. "We wanted to be the group that can push and get there, so with that comes that added pressure. But we've got to learn how to play with that."
21. Washington Capitals (Last Week: 21/Move: 0)
The Capitals missed an opportunity to bank two points when they lost a three-goal lead early and a single-goal edge in the final minute of regulation in an eventual OT loss to Columbus. Alex Ovechkin did score to reach 40 goals for the 13th season, breaking a tie with Wayne Gretzky.
Nos. 20-16: Senators, Flames, Penguins, Predators, Panthers
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20. Ottawa Senators (Last Week: 22/Move: +2)
Ottawa's 2-1 loss at Boston on Tuesday dropped the Senators to 1-5-1 in their last seven games as they struggle to gain ground on others also chasing the final Eastern playoff spot. They were six points off the cut line heading into Wednesday's games.
19. Calgary Flames (Last Week: 19/Move: 0)
The inconsistent Flames passed a late-season mettle test on Tuesday, winning 5-1 at Anaheim to erase some of the sting of an 8-2 loss at Los Angeles the night before. "[Monday] night wasn't good enough," forward Mikael Backlund said, "and wasn't acceptable."
18. Pittsburgh Penguins (Last Week: 15/Move: -3)
The Penguins arrived to Wednesday's game at Colorado having lost four straight while scoring just seven goals. Their league-best active run of 16 straight playoff seasons is officially in some jeopardy.
17. Nashville Predators (Last Week: 16/Move: -1)
The Predators were five points behind the Western cut line entering Wednesday's games, but they're getting production from youngsters like Luke Evangelista, who became the second rookie in franchise history to produce four points in a game. "With all the movement and stuff that's gone on, there's an opportunity for young guys here," he said.
16. Florida Panthers (Last Week: 18/Move: +2)
A fourth game in six nights was finally enough to cool off the red-hot Panthers, who'd gone 6-0-1 in seven games before dropping a 6-3 decision in Philadelphia. Florida reached Wednesday a point above the Eastern cut line with 11 games remaining.
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Nos. 15-11: Jets, Islanders, Kraken, Oilers, Lightning
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15. Winnipeg Jets (Last Week: 14/Move: -1)
The Jets remain within striking distance of third place in the Central Division and are currently in the final Western wild-card position, but the power play hasn't helped, going 0-for-6 against Arizona on Tuesday and 0-for-19 in their last five games.
14. New York Islanders (Last Week: 17/Move: +3)
The Islanders swelled their Eastern playoff cushion to four points with their most impressive effort of the season, a 7-2 defeat of Toronto. "There seems to be a lot of good offensive teams in the mix," forward Cal Clutterbuck said, "so if anything, it just goes to show that if we can stick to the plan and be very disciplined in it, we can have success."
13. Seattle Kraken (Last Week: 12/Move: -1)
The Kraken gave up two goals against Dallas in the last four minutes but managed to earn a critical two points with an OT win that countered two previous losses to the Stars in the preceding 10 days.
12. Edmonton Oilers (Last Week: 13/Move: +1)
The Oilers rode a four-game winning streak into a Wednesday game with Arizona after going 8-2 in their first 10 with trade-deadline acquisition Mattias Ekholm, who had nine points and was a plus-15 since the deal.
11. Tampa Bay Lightning (Last Week: 9/Move: -2)
The Lightning remained three points back of second-place Toronto in the Atlantic after losing 3-2 at Montreal on Tuesday. It ended goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy's streak of 11 straight regular-season wins against Montreal since 2018.
Nos. 10-6: Wild, Stars, Avalanche, Rangers, Kings
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10. Minnesota Wild (Last Week: 11/Move: +1)
A 7-1-2 run over the last 10 games moved the Wild into a first-place tie with Dallas atop the Central Division entering Wednesday. A 2-1 overtime defeat of New Jersey on Tuesday was Minnesota's 12th extra-time win of the season—tied for tops in the league.
9. Dallas Stars (Last Week: 6/Move: -3)
Goalie Jake Oettinger has been rock-solid for the Stars all season, but there's been concern of late to the tune of 13 goals allowed on 94 shots (.862 save percentage) in his last three starts. He was seventh in the league entering Wednesday's games with a .917 save percentage.
8. Colorado Avalanche (Last Week: 10/Move: +2)
Colorado's win over Chicago on Monday was its sixth straight heading into a Wednesday game with Pittsburgh, and the defending champs had outscored opponents by a 27-12 margin during the streak.
7. New York Rangers (Last Week: 7/Move: 0)
The Rangers seem slotted in for a first-round playoff matchup with either Carolina or New Jersey after a 3-2 loss to the Hurricanes left them six points out of second place in the Metropolitan. The loss ended a streak of six wins and an OT loss in seven games.
6. Los Angeles Kings (Last Week: 8/Move: +2)
There's no team hotter over the last 10 games than the surging Kings, who've gone 8-0-2 since last losing in regulation and briefly climbed into a first-place tie with Vegas after winning Monday against Calgary.
Nos. 5-1: Maple Leafs, Golden Knights, Devils, Hurricanes, Bruins
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5. Toronto Maple Leafs (Last Week: 4/Move: -1)
A 7-2 loss against the New York Islanders put a convincing end to a two-game winning streak for the Maple Leafs, but forward Mitch Marner hit a franchise milestone by becoming the fourth Toronto player to reach 90 points in consecutive seasons—following Lanny McDonald, Darryl Sittler and Doug Gilmour.
4. Vegas Golden Knights (Last Week: 5/Move: +1)
The trade-deadline deal that brought Jonathan Quick to the desert is looking more and more special now that he's gone 5-1 with the Golden Knights and passed John Vanbiesbrouck for second on the all-time list for wins by American-born goalies.
3. New Jersey Devils (Last Week: 3/Move: 0)
The Devils earned points in six of their last eight games and entered Wednesday within two points of Carolina at the top of the Metropolitan Division. An OT loss to Minnesota on Tuesday was New Jersey's 17th defeat of the season (13 in regulation) at home, compared to a league-best 26-5-4 road mark.
2. Carolina Hurricanes (Last Week: 2/Move: 0)
Defeating the Rangers on Tuesday allowed the Hurricanes to maintain their grip on first place in the Metropolitan and got them to 100 points in 69 games—the fewest number of games to hit that mark in franchise history. "If we can play like that every night, we're going to be in good shape," coach Rod Brind'Amour said.
1. Boston Bruins (Last Week: 1/Move: 0)
Goalie Linus Ullmark had his second 40-save game of the season in Boston's 2-1 defeat of Ottawa, a victory that moved the Bruins within eight wins of matching the league's single-season record of 62. Ullmark leads the league with 35 wins.
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