NHL Weekly 5s From the Sports Mac: October 20, 2010

5 Stories Making News the Past Week

1.  The surprising starts by teams at the bottom of the league last year continues as Toronto and Dallas continue to stay at the top of their respective conferences.

2.  Rick Rypien of the Canucks has an altercation with a fan in Minnesota and is looking at a suspension from the league.

3.  Flyers D Matt Walker will miss the next 10-12 weeks after undergoing hip surgery earlier this week.

4.  The Penguins’ Jordan Staal practices for the first time since May with a hope to return to play sometime soon.

5.  Thrashers G Ondrej Pavelec says he has no recollection of his collapse at the start of a game against Washington in the first week of the season.

Best 5 Teams Right Now

1.  Toronto Maple Leafs (4-0-1, 9 pts): The young Maple Leafs still have not lost in regulation and are gaining early confidence that they hope to carry through the season.

2.  Chicago Blackhawks (4-2-1, 9 pts): The defending Stanley Cup champions got off to a slow start but have picked it up . They now are tied for the league lead in goals scored.

3.  Pittsburgh Penguins (4-3-0, 8 pts): Now that they are winning at home, they’re finding their stride and are tied with the aforementioned Blackhawks for the most goals scored so far.

4.  Dallas Stars (4-1-0, 8 pts): The other early surprise in the NHL so far as they finally lost their first game of the season in their last game.

5.  Washington Capitals (4-2-0, 8 pts): Another team that got off to a tough start and were playing well until Boston beat them at home in their latest contest.

Worst 5 Teams Right Now

1.  New Jersey Devils (1-4-1, 3 pts): For a team that has been historically stingy at giving up goals, allowing 21 in the first six games of the season has to set off major alarms.

2.  Ottawa Senators (1-4-1, 3 pts): Their defense and goaltending has been as bad as the Devils, but they have one small advantage—they’ve at least won a home game already.

3.  Buffalo Sabres (1-4-1, 3 pts): The Sabres are off to a bad start and it’s the one part they hoped would be solid; Ryan Miller has given up 13 goals in his five starts so far this year.

4.  San Jose Sharks (1-2-1, 3 pts): Not a great start for one of the preseason contenders in the Western Conference as they’re giving up more than three goals per contest so far.

5.  Phoenix Coyotes (1-2-1, 3 pts): They’ve struggled to find the net at the start of the season; they only have eight goals in their first four games.

5 League Leaders To Keep Track Of

1.  Marian Hossa, Blackhawks RW: He had a blistering week and now leads the league in goals scored with seven already.

2.  Henrik Sedin, Canucks C: Henrik has benefited from playing with his brother on the same line as he has nine assists, anchoring Vancouver’s top line.

3.  Brad Richards, Stars C: He has been one of the leaders of a young Dallas squad off to a good start and has a league-leading +8 to show for the effort so far.

4.  Brent Johnson, Penguins G: He has been the steadying influence for Pittsburgh as they have righted the ship and Johnson is one of the co-leaders in wins with four.

5.  Tim Thomas, Bruins G: Thomas has taken advantage of his starts so far for Boston; he’s only allowed two goals in three starts and has a GAA of just 0.67 so far.

5 Games To Watch Over the Next Week

1.  Islanders (3-1-2) at Lightning (4-1-0), 7:30 PM ET, Thursday: Two teams that have lost only two games combined meet in Florida to try and keep adding to the good starts to their seasons.

2.  Predators (3-0-2) at Stars (4-1-0), 8:00 PM ET, Saturday: A couple of the early surprises in the Western Conference meet in Texas looking to keep themselves on the upswing early on.

3.  Devils (1-4-1) at Rangers (1-2-1), 7:00 PM ET, Sunday: The first meeting of the rivals this season always means a little more despite the teams’ records.

4.  Kings (3-1-0) at Wild (2-2-1), 8:00 PM ET, Monday, Versus: Los Angeles tries to keep its good start going as they head east to take on a Matt Cullen-led Minnesota team.

5.  Avalanche (4-2-0) at Canucks (2-3-1), 10:00 PM ET, Tuesday: Colorado has this important division game early on this season to show Vancouver they mean business in the Northwest.