NHL Power Rankings Week 3

Tim Thomas posted two shutouts over the week, and is a large reason the Bruins are doing so well

A new week, a new leader. One month into the NHL season and the Tampa Bay Lightning and Los Angeles Kings are in first place in their conferences. Yet neither top the rankings this week. Boston fans can thank Tim Thomas.

1. Boston Bruins (6-2-0) Week 2 Rank – 3: Back to back shutouts over the week and Boston has the highest winning percentage in the whole league. They also haven’t loss on the road yet. Standout – Ok, sure Tyler Seguin had two goals in two games, but can it be anyone but Tim Thomas? Zero goals allowed=Winning games.

2. Los Angeles Kings (8-3-0) Week 2 Rank – 4: The Kings are 4-0 at home and 2-0 on the road when they have a player get ejected. They also downed Dallas to take control of the Pacific, and beat Ilya Kovalchuk and the Devils for their 800^th franchise victory. Standout(s) – Jack Johnson had six assists in four games, Justin Williams has three goals and two assists, and Jonathan Quick won all three games he played in with his goals against average of 1.67.

3. Detroit Red Wings (6-2-1) Week 2 Rank – 1: A win and a loss doesn’t equate to a bad week really. It just isn’t great when you get stonewalled entirely by Ilya Bryzgalov at home. Standout – Remember when Zetterberg was averaging a goal and an assist per game. Well now Pavel Datsyuk is doing that too.

4. Tampa Bay Lightning (7-2-1) Week 2 Rank – 6: Two more wins for the Lightning including a crazy comeback win against the Penguins puts them atop the East. Best of all, it looks like they may have stability in goal with Dan Ellis finally. Standout – Ellis didn’t let anything pass him all week, but again Steven Stamkos is all over the score sheet with a goal and three assists.

5. Washington Capitals (7-4-0) Week 2 Rank – 8: So one game Michal Neuvirth stands on his head and snags a shutout, the next game the offense can’t get going there is a 2-1 loss to Minnesota. Good thing everyone showed up against Calgary in that romp. Standout – Nik Backstrom was the most consistent Cap this week. Goals in two games and his Finnish counterpart shut him down in Minnesota.

6. St. Louis Blues (6-1-2) Week 2 Rank – 10: The Blues looked shaky coming off of a stellar performance against Nashville but it’s good enough for one of their hottest starts in their history. Jaroslav Halak looked shaky too for a bit, though he recovered enough. Still, counting on Jay McClement to bail you out is not the greatest strategy. Standout – McClement’s hat trick was his first goals of the season and he basically did most of his goal scoring for the season in that one game if his past seasons are an indicator of things to come.

7. Montreal Canadians (7-3-1) Week 2 Rank – 13: Carey Price is yet again to be blamed. Right? One solid performance is matched by Alex Auld. Let the finger pointing continue. Standout – It wasn’t the biggest performance but Travis Moen selfishly disregards his job of punching faces in to instead go and score two goals. That jerk.

8. San Jose Sharks (5-3-1) Week 2 Rank – 17: Two wins though they were against the Ducks and Devils so that really isn’t saying much. However that top line is scary good. Just in time for Halloween. And it looks like the Sharks wised up and settled on Antero Niittymaki. Standout – Heatley (3-4=7), Marleau (2-3=5), and Thornton (3-5=8) in two games. That is why you worry about playing the Sharks.

9.  Dallas Stars (6-4-0) Week 2 Rank – 7: They drop two to their SoCal division rivals then get a courtesy win from Buffalo. And all of a sudden Kari Lehtonen looks like a far cry from his legendary status he was working on. Standout – As good as Brad Richards has been the nod goes to Andrew Raycroft for being the stopper against Buffalo. 34 shots, 34 saves. That’s how you make the money.

10. Chicago Blackhawks (7-5-1) Week 2 Rank – 16: As goes Turco, so go the Hawks. He plays like a stud twice and gets two wins, but in another he gets swapped. Chicago needs some consistency in net if they want to climb higher. Standout – Seven points out Duncan Keith from three straight multipoint games. How’s that for some consistency?

11. Colorado Avalanche (6-4-1) Week 2 Rank – 20: Colorado has one of the highest octane offenses in the league. On the downside their defense is one of the worst. Doesn’t help when goalie Craig Anderson is hurt also. Standout – Chris Stewart went on a tear his last couple of games, one of which he carried the Avs with a hat trick over the Flames in a slugfest.

12. Columbus Blue Jackets (6-4-0) Week 2 Rank – 18: Steve Mason’s up and down year continues as such, and yet the steady Mathieu Garon remains the steady presence. The Jackets got two wins though, even with an anemic offense. Standout – Kyle Wilson got his first two goals of his career this past week, that also being his first points of the season.

13. Philadelphia Flyers (6-4-1) Week 2 Rank – 22: So Danny Briere says his Flyers embarrassed the Islanders while he got 17 penalty minutes. Then Brier got slapped with a three game suspension. Let the claims for Flyer cruelty begin. Standout – Sergei Bobrovsky rebounded in a huge way winning all three of his starts and not turning all Mike Vernon in the Islander-Flyer fight club.

14. Calgary Flames (6-5-0) Week 2 Rank – 5: It seems all of a sudden the defense and goaltending of the Flames died out pretty quick. They were able to get the offense rolling but that was against Edmonton’s and Colorado’s pitiful bluelines. They still only barely won one of those games. Standout – Jay Bouwmeester did finally have a productive weekend with a goal and a couple of assists but also was on that train wreck of a defense.

15.  Nashville Predators (5-2-3) Week 2 Rank – 2: Two losses to division rivals and just like that the mighty Preds are at .500 and got their first regulation losses. Rough week for just about anyone in Nashville. Standout – Vince Young played pretty good Sunday against the Chargers. Still lost. That bad of a week in Tennessee.

16. Pittsburgh Penguins (6-5-1) Week 2 Rank – 11: Am I the only one wondering why in the hell Fleury continues to start any games? Brent Johnson is still the only one getting any wins while Fleury is the only one getting losses (two more this week). Standout – Guess. It’s Johnson.

17. New York Rangers (5-4-1) Week 2 Rank – 9: Close but not quite was the story this week. A comeback falls up short, and a comeback goes wasted. Good thing Toronto’s offense was feeble and King Henrick got the shutout. Standout – Five points for Ryan Callahan, with three goals.

18. Toronto Maple Leafs (5-4-1) Week 2 Rank – 14: As for those Maple Leafs getting shutout twice in a row does not equate to good results. When Colton Orr is your source of goals that should be a sign that things are bad, especially when it is by shoving over a goalie. Standout – The goalies’ psychiatrist in Toronto. So much wasted effort.

19. Carolina Hurricanes (5-5-0) Week 2 Rank – 15: Another team shutout twice. The Hurricanes haven’t scored a goal in Carolina yet, but they have a 5-3 record on the road. Too bad they aren’t like the Coyotes where every home game feels like a road game. Standout – Cam Ward is doing his job. The problem is he is the only one showing up.

20. Vancouver Canucks (4-3-2) Week 2 Rank – 23: One game and one win for the Canucks, though they got some ground to make up still. Standout – See what happens when Luongo tries?

21. Atlanta Thrashers (5-4-2) Week 2 Rank – 26: Atlanta got a point every game, including two wins. Plus they were all ultra dramatic. Now people just need to go to games. Standout – A goal per game for Nic Bergfors. Honorable mention to Ondrej Pavelec for not passing out and actually playing pretty well.

22. Florida Panthers (4-5-0) Week 2 Rank – 19: Florida’s tour of Canada was actually what you would expect from them. They looked flat against two struggling teams then eek out win against the surging Habs. Seeing Florida’s record against winning teams it isn’t surprising. Which is itself surprising. Standout – The Panthers’ webpage for being way too…well here.

23. Minnesota Wild (4-4-2) Week 2 Rank – 21: All of them close with only half the points to show for a three game home stand. ANOTHER team with zilch offense. Standout – Because really who else did anything noteworthy?

24. New York Islanders (4-5-2) Week 2 Rank – 12: A week highlighted by why Doug Weight wears number 93 and that Jon Sim was put on waivers. When you lose three straight and one looks like WWE it’s a bad week. Still waiting on DiPietro to actually make saves. Standout – Jon Sim gets called for “abuse of the officials”. He went out with a bang at least.

25. Edmonton Oilers (3-4-2) Week 2 Rank – 27: So close to a perfect week but four points in three games isn’t terrible. The Oilers not losing in regulation salvages things. Standout – Taylor Hall finally gets his first goal for his first points for his first multipoint game. Then he does it again.

26. Ottawa Senators (4-6-1) Week 2 Rank – 29: Ottawa shows that they do have offense only to have it disappear when Tim Thomas shows up. Other players not named Daniel Alfredsson actually score. No, really. Standout – Of course it’s still Alfredsson. He leads the Sens in points (12) and has as many goals as the next closest in points (6).

27. Phoenix Coyotes (3-4-3) Week 2 Rank – 24: 1-2-1 for the week means more spiraling in Phoenix. However, they beat Detroit. Unfortunately for Detroit it was a home game so they had witnesses. Standout – The website (second one this week!) for every five seconds having a popup asking me if I would like to speak with a ticket representative.

28. Anaheim Ducks (4-7-1) Week 2 Rank – 28: Bad news: The Ducks still are the worst defense in the league and have the most goals allowed. Good news: It’s still not the worst goal differential. Standout – Jonas Hiller isn’t playing bad but it doesn’t matter when he has no help. Perry, Getzlaf, and Selanne all got four points apiece also so the power play works still at least.

29. Buffalo Sabres (3-7-2) Week 2 Rank – 25: Three straight losses for the Sabres. Things could be better if they stayed out of the penalty box, seeing how they are god awful when it comes to killing penalties off. Standout – Derek Roy is playing great. 13 points in 12 games and six goals. Though I think the bigger standout is Steve Montador’s +9 which is tied for second best in the league.

30. New Jersey Devils (3-8-1) Week 2 Rank – 30: Second straight week at the bottom and the Devils are off to their worst start in franchise history. Ilya Kovalchuk is soundly booed in L.A. every time he touches a puck and then Zach Parise leaves with an injury. Things are not looking up and the -19 goal differential is only likely to get worse. Standout – Los Angeles for really getting a good laugh at New Jersey’s expense.