NHL Power Rankings Week 4

1. Los Angeles Kings (10-3-0) Week 3 Rank – 2: Still undefeated at home, in possession of the most wins, and has best winning percentage. Plus, one of those victories came against Tampa Bay in a tightly fought 1-0 game.

Standout player: Justin Williams has been red hot, scoring the game winner against Tampa and adding two assists against Nashville. Special shout out for Ryan Smythe and the vast array of mullets the Kings wore for his 1000th game.

2. St. Louis Blues (9-1-2) Week 3 Rank – 6: Games against the Sharks, Boston, and the Rangers and only one goal allowed? With just enough offense to get by, it shows team defense (and hot goal tending) is more effective.

Standout player: Jaroslav Halak has been lights out. 59 shots against, 58 saves. And it looks like Ty Conklin is getting into it also with a shutout against New York.

3. Washington Capitals (10-4-0) Week 3 Rank – 5: A pretty intense week, but a four game winning streak to their credit now has Washington rolling especially with that offense of theirs, averaging five goals a game during the streak.

Standout player: Mike Green decided to show up again and is averaging a goal a game right now.

4. Boston Bruins (7-3-1) Week 3 Rank – 1: Boston looking a tad vulnerable getting beat finally by Washington and then losing a close one against St. Louis. Even stranger was Tim Thomas finally looking human again.

Standout player: 4 million dollars a year buys you Michael Ryder, who had a good week tallying two goals and two assists.

5. Detroit Red Wings (8-3-1) Week 3 Rank – 3: A trip through Canada left Detroit squeaking by Edmonton and Calgary until Vancouver pounded in six goals in a 4-6 loss for the Wings. Not sure what is more troubling of the two of those.

Standout player: Would have been Jimmy Howard until Vancouver let him have it. Instead, it’s Mike Modano who finally scored his second goal.

6. Philadelphia Flyers (9-4-2) Week 3 Rank – 13: A six game win streak stopped in Washington in overtime. Still 13 points out of 14 is a hot streak. Though there are only so many games against the Islanders. Good thing the Devils suck.

Standout player: Has Philly found a goalie? After I said no originally, it looks like they have. Sergei Bobrovsky won all six of the streak.

7. Vancouver Canucks (8-3-2) Week 3 Rank – 20: Another six game win streak? About time Vancouver. It just took some more interdivision games and using someone not named Luongo. His shutout over New Jersey doesn’t count on account of the fact that they are terrible.

Standout player: The Balding Boys Raffi Torres and Manny Malhotra. Torres had five goals and Malhotra had five points, including two goals over Detroit.

8. Dallas Stars (8-5-0) Week 3 Rank – 9: Five goals, then six, then zero. The Stars just don’t know the meaning of spreading things out, but going 2-1 is acceptable.

Standout player: Two goals and one assist, and then two goals and two assists. It really is unbelievable that Loui Eriksson gets no love.

9. Columbus Blue Jackets (8-5-0) Week 3 Rank – 12: Mathieu Garon had Columbus looking like the team from two seasons back. You know back when the original starter Steve Mason was doing this.

Standout player: Garon was unbelievable until a sub-par outing against an average at best Minnesota squad. Still two shutouts outta three.

10. Tampa Bay Lightning (7-4-2) Week 3 Rank – 4: Only three losses until this week where Tampa then doubles their losses by one swing to California. A big cause? The offense being relatively shutdown with only four goals in three games.

Standout player: Again and always, it’s Steven Stamkos with Two goals and an assist. Just needs the rest of the team to start scoring.

11. Montreal Canadians (8-5-1) Week 3 Rank – 7: A rather subpar week for the Habs, highlighted by their subpar offense during the week also. Good thing they played Buffalo (who they barely got past) to grab one win.

Standout player: The line of Benoit Pouliot, Jeff Halpern, and Matt Darche seems to be the one consistent thing in Montreal. Seriously, even the fans' obnoxious behavior has been called into question by the fans themselves. Well, that may be a good thing.

12. San Jose Sharks (6-5-1) Week 3 Rank – 8: Getting shutout twice in a row you would figure to be a momentum killer. Then a game without Joe Thornton and the Sharks score five and beat Tampa Bay. I don’t know either.

Standout player: Who would have thought performing an illegal hit to the head and getting suspended while being the team captain and leading scorer would help your team? Joe Thornton, that’s who.

13. Colorado Avalanche (7-5-1) Week 3 Rank – 11: The Avs are holding on for the time being, still without Craig Anderson, but backup goalie Peter Budaj is doing all he can to keep it that way. He’ll still likely ride the pine when Anderson gets back.

Standout player: Enjoy the limelight while you can Budaj. Now you know how it is playing with as little support as Anderson.

14. Minnesota Wild (7-4-2) Week 3 Rank – 23: A three game winning streak this week with an anemic offense is pretty impressive, but it works for St. Louis. Well, more like their goalies caught fire.

Standout player: It’s za goalies, including Jose Theodore. Yes, that is right. Backstrom (2 wins, one goal against) stood on his head against San Jose and Calgary, so mainly it’s him. The Columbus offense is pretty weak, so Jose can thank them.

15.  New York Rangers (7-6-1) Week 3 Rank – 17: The Rangers split for the week, beating Chicago and New Jersey and then generating absolutely no offense virtually against Philadelphia and St. Louis.

Standout player: 10 goals now for Brandon Dubinsky, who got five this week before running into St. Louis, where offenses go to die. Dubinsky is single-handedly winning games for the Rangers the rest of the time, and is tied for second in goals overall.

16. Carolina Hurricanes (7-7-0) Week 3 Rank – 19: The Hurricanes finally win at home. Twice in fact. On the road they then lose both this week. Still at .500, which they have hovered around all season so far.

Standout player: Jeff Skinner is making a real case early for a Calder nomination. Five goals (two this week) and seven assists (three) in 14 games has been gaining some attention.

17. Pittsburgh Penguins (7-7-1) Week 3 Rank – 16: The goal tending situation has gotten a bit direr as the Penguins drop two this week. The defense is doing their job, second best in shots against, but when Fleury starts the Penguins are getting burned.

Standout player: When in doubt, there’s Sidney Crosby. Three goals in a week where the Pens offense was mild at best, he at least keeps it close.

18. Ottawa Senators (7-6-1) Week 3 Rank – 26: After a tepid start of 1-4-1, the Sens have won six of their last eight. The current goalie is Brian Elliot, who looks like a starter with three straight wins. So, cross your fingers Ottawa and hope the good luck continues.

Standout player: Jason Spezza actually showed up big time, scoring a goal and setting up three others against the Islanders. That has literally been close to all he has done this season.

19. Chicago Blackhawks (8-8-1) Week 3 Rank – 10: Not looking like defending champions really except when they played Atlanta, though that may be because half their team from last season was playing the half that stayed in Chicago. Looks like that so called depth of the Hawks is really getting tested with injuries.

Standout player: Finally. Jonathan Toews decides to at last call out the Hawks for underperforming like only champs could. He did score four points, two of which were goals, against Atlanta. Unfortunately that was really the only offense he had that week.

20. Anaheim Ducks (7-7-1) Week 3 Rank – 28: A three game winning streak from against teams that were a collective 1-8-0 the past week. The Ducks will take it. And it made it look like they had a semblance of a defense actually.

Standout player: The Finnish Flash has still got it. Five points, two of them goals, and Selanne has been the most consistent and arguably the most productive Duck so far this season.

21. Atlanta Thrashers (6-5-3) Week 3 Rank – 21: The Thrashers have at least been consistent lately, yet only with their inconsistency. One constant has been their atrocious defense that has been giving up an ungodly amount of shots.

Standout player: I’m just going to say Chris Mason for somehow stealing a win against Florida despite facing 55 shots. Only three goals against…Kudos to you Mr. Mason.

22. Calgary Flames (6-7-0) Week 3 Rank – 14: The Flames are in a midst of a four game losing streak, which featured a completely inept offense this week only scoring two goals in two games.

Standout player: Besides Miikka Kiprusoff for not killing everyone yet, Mark Giordano who is the one other guy who actually looks like they know what they are doing.

23. Nashville Predators (5-5-3) Week 3 Rank – 15: So the Preds started by winning three straight, losing three straight in overtime (not shootouts), winning two, and now have lost five straight. They better rebound, otherwise their season can get out of control fast.

Standout player: Cal O’Reilly notched a point a game, being one guy who actually has done something for the Predators since their defense and goal tending is failing them.

24. Toronto Maple Leafs (5-5-3) Week 3 Rank – 18: After starting the season perfect through four games the Leafs have only won once since then. This week, add three more losses to the list (two via the shootout). They actually rallied in their first two games, once to salvage a point. Then, when Toronto actually had a lead, they blow it to Buffalo.

Standout player: Deciding to turn into the goal scorer projected he would be, Nik Kulemin scored a goal in each game this week.

25. Florida Panthers (5-7-0) Week 3 Rank – 22: The good news is that Florida averaged four goals a game this week. The bad news was that they still lost two of three, putting them in the cellar of the Southeast division.

Standout player: The Florida forwards showed up for a game proving they do exist. They won 7-4. Problem was the other two games that were lost were the blueliners again did most of the work, getting eight of the 14 points.

26. Edmonton Oilers (4-6-2) Week 3 Rank – 25: It seems as long as the Oilers play over two games a week they will win the third one at least. Or just whenever they play Chicago.

Standout player: The Chicago Blackhawks of course. They are the main reason the Oilers are winning at all.

27. Phoenix Coyotes (4-5-4) Week 3 Rank – 27: Dave Tippet has got to be wondering what happened to his defense and things aren’t getting any easier with Shane Doan missing more time due to an injury.

Standout player: Ed Jovanovski scored his first career hat trick and was basically the only reason Phoenix won a game this week.

28. New York Islanders (4-8-2) Week 3 Rank – 24: Farewell to the .500 Islanders, and hello to mediocrity. The losing streak is at seven now, and a road trip out to California is up next. 

Standout player: DiPietro let in seven his one start. I wish I could get paid to suck at my job.

29. Buffalo Sabres (4-9-2) Week 3 Rank – 29: A very close call from being ranked dead last. Jochen Hecht sent a game to overtime with under 15 seconds to go, and the Sabres won. Don’t look for improvement with Ryan Miller still out.

Standout player: Ryan Miller for not having to endure this torture for the time being.

30. New Jersey Devils (4-10-1) Week 3 Rank – 30: Shutout twice means the cellar dweller’s yet again, though the Islanders are trying very hard to undertake them.

Standout player: 100 million with Kovalchuk buys you two assists in three games. Somewhere Alexi Yashin is laughing.