NHL Power Rankings Week 5

The leader of the rankings hasn’t changed (yet), and the Capitals are surging to the front. However, three teams complete and utterly disgusting play (and winless weeks) has them pooled at the bottom. Rejoice Devil fans.

The Kings and their young defensemen are leading the way in the NHL so far. Photo courtesy of nhl.com

1. Los Angeles Kings (12-3-0) Week 4 Rank – 1: The Kings stay perfect at home, and get two more wins, which means they stay atop the rankings for the second week. They also look to send a message with a big game against San Jose. Changing of the guard in the Pacific? Standout – Five points for Anze Kopitar, four for Jack Johnson, and Jon Quick hasn’t allowed more than one goal per game at home.

2. Washington Capitals (13-4-1) Week 4 Rank – 3: It’s starting to look like another typical year of Capital domination in the Southeast division. What is strange is the offense coming from other people not named Alex. Standout – Ok, just because I said people besides Semin and Ovechkin are scoring doesn’t mean they aren’t. Semin got a hat trick and eight points, and AO got got seven of his own.

3. Detroit Red Wings (11-3-1) Week 4 Rank – 5: Detroit getting healthy equates to three wins for the week. It also puts them back on top of the Central division. Standout – Dan Cleary got four goals, scored at least one in each game last week, and made everyone forget about Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Lidstrom. Though Lidstrom is averaging an assist a game.

4. Philadelphia Flyers (11-4-2) Week 4 Rank – 6: The Flyers have the best goal differential currently in the league. Not surprising now that the offense can find the net, and Sergei Bobrovsky has established himself as a legitimate starter. Standout – Claude Giroux gets a contract, scores two goals two assists in two games. Jeff Carter gets a contract, scores a hat trick. Paul Holmgren’s Oprah tactics are working “You get a contract! And you get a contract!”

5. Montreal Canadians (11-5-1) Week 4 Rank – 11: A perfect week out of the Habs, and Carey Price actually gets some praise. Crazy, I know. Huge game against Phily coming up. Standout – Blah blah, Plekanec, who cares? It’s all about Price now! A Shutout and averaging only one goal against the past week.

6. Vancouver Canucks (10-4-2) Week 4 Rank – 7: Vancouver is now sitting pretty at the pinnacle of a very small mountain known as the Northwest division. Standout – Two goals in two games for Ryan Kesler, though the whole modeling thing probably gained him more popularity than any goals will.

7. St. Louis Blues (9-3-3) Week 4 Rank – 2: So I rank them second and say Halak was October’s MVP. They then lose three straight, and Halak looked like Swiss cheese. Doesn’t help losing T.J. Oshie for a few months either. Standout – I would say me for being the weakness to Jaroslav Halak, but Andy McDonald is doing his part in trying to keep the Blues winning, getting a goal and contributing to four out of the five scored by the Blues.

8. Boston Bruins (8-5-1) Week 4 Rank – 4: So after scoring seven against Pittsburgh, the Bruins only get one goal in their next two games. I think that may just speak more about Pittsburgh’s defense than about the Bruins’ offensive inconsistencies. Standout – Zdeno Charra at least provides entertainment (and defense I guess) even when the Bruins can’t score. Two goals in two games, and then a fight when his team gets shutout.

9. Columbus Blue Jackets (9-6-0) Week 4 Rank – 9: Columbus isn’t going away yet. They drub St. Louis and Halak big time, and then get white washed by the Avs. Not quite sure if they are headed up or down, so they stay where they are. Standout – Steve Mason’s inconsistencies continue and mirror his team’s. 29 out of 30 shots stopped one night, 24 out of 29 on another.

10. San Jose Sharks (8-5-2) Week 4 Rank – 12: Two wins and a loss this week for the Sharks, though that loss was in overtime to the rival Ducks. Now they have to defend themselves from the upstart Kings. Standout – Ryane Clowe isn’t known as a playmaker, but hey, four assists and a goal in three games say otherwise.

11. Anaheim Ducks (10-7-2) Week 4 Rank – 20: The streak was finally ended but the Ducks won three more this week and jumped nine spots. However, two of those wins came against the Islanders and Stars who didn’t win a game all week. Standout – The Ducks’ goalies continue to get shelled, and yet hold their ground. This includes bombardment from their own team, seeing how Jonas Hiller had to get stitches after taking a puck to the mask during a practice.

12. New York Rangers (9-7-1) Week 4 Rank – 15: The Rangers got Marian Gaborik back and he promptly nets a hat trick. The Rangers proved they can survive without their biggest gun and now look like they could be a threat. Standout – The line of Alexander Frolov, Eric Christensen, and Marian Gaborik that put up a combined four goals and six assists in one game.

13. Ottawa Senators (9-7-1) Week 4 Rank – 18: After a slow start the Senators keep winning. Pascal Leclaire though has got to be infuriated with his team after he finally starts and they give him zero help on offense or defense. Standout – Jason Spezza for having the best disappearing act as he does it again. Two goals and an assist one game, and then zilch afterwards. Brian Elliot must want that starting job pretty bad too, seeing how it looks like he paid off his team to leave Pascal Leclaire out to dry.

14. Dallas Stars (8-7-0) Week 4 Rank – 8: Dallas loses spots big time losing both their games, against division rivals also, while most other teams caught fire. They also play two more interdivision games this week. Standout – The Stars’ composure which completely evaporated in their game at L.A. Who needs that though, it’s overrated.

15.  Pittsburgh Penguins (9-8-1) Week 4 Rank – 17: Pittsburgh finally gets some Ws, and so does Fleury. All it took was Brent Johnson getting crushed in Boston, letting seven goals in. Standout – Comebacks all around. While Sidney Crosby still does most of the work, he at last may finally have some help. Evgeni Malkin scored six points, including a hat trick, and Marc-Andre Fleury proved he can stop a puck finally.

16. Colorado Avalanche (8-7-1) Week 4 Rank – 13: Colorado doesn’t do themselves any favors, winning only one game. They do make a smart move and add another defender, obtaining Ryan O’Byrne from Montreal, who wasn’t seeing any time with the Habs. Standout – O’Byrne who goes from healthy scratch, to leader in ice time, to third pairing defenseman in a span of a week.

17. Minnesota Wild (8-6-2) Week 4 Rank – 14: Similar week to the Avs, except without the blueline pickup. They drop two games to the lowly Thrashers and Florida, and then smack down the Lightning. Standout – Cal Clutterbuck doesn’t scream scorer, but he was scoring powerplay goals at a Stamkos like rate.

18. Tampa Bay Lightning (8-7-2) Week 4 Rank – 10: Speaking of the Lightning, they are in a flat out nose dive right now, losing three more games and winning only one. Since their trip to California Tampa is 1-5-1. Standout – I don’t even know why I bother with this here. It’s Steven Stamkos. And it always is. When it isn’t, it’s Stamkos again. Four goals, two assists. Routine stuff.

19. Nashville Predators (7-5-3) Week 4 Rank – 23: Nashville gets out of their five game losing streak and win both games the past week, both of which are decided by a shootout. Oddly enough they are 0-3 in overtime, but 2-0 in shootouts now. Standout – Cal O’Reilly has been icing the games on his stick alone, with only one regulation goal but two shootout goals.

20. Carolina Hurricanes (8-9-0) Week 4 Rank – 16: Way to inflate your goals against average. The Canes win 7-1, and then lose their next two being outscored 3-15 combined. These things can happen when you are lulled into carelessness after playing Edmonton. Standout – Eric Staal had six assists in what was otherwise an unremarkable week all around.

21. Florida Panthers (7-8-0) Week 4 Rank – 25: Florida is proving to be what they look like on paper: Not terrible but not playoff bound; capable of beating Toronto, but not most contending teams; and boasting a close to useless offense. Standout – The blueliners for Florida have generated a third of the offense, which is about as sparse as sanity in Lindsay Lohan.

22. Chicago Blackhawks (9-9-2) Week 4 Rank – 19: Chicago sneaks a win out of Anaheim, but drop two more games earlier in the week. They did manage three points out of three games but that isn’t nearly enough in a tight division. Standout – Karma I guess. CAPTAIN Jonathan Toews calls his team out and generates 0 goals, 0 assists, and one really bad commercial.

23. Phoenix Coyotes (7-5-5) Week 4 Rank – 27: Three wins out of four games for the Coyotes, and enough one point losses to offset the fact they are really 7-10. Still, they managed to get a point each game this past week. Standout – Vernon Fiddler who can score a hat trick for about two million less a year than Ray Whitney.

24. Calgary Flames (7-9-0) Week 4 Rank – 22: Calgary still can’t get their act together, though the games are still tight scoring. They finally manage to score some, but in the process get scored on plenty. Standout – Ian White somehow has six points, only one on the power play, and yet still has a -10. I just don’t know how he manages that.

25. Atlanta Thrashers (7-8-3) Week 4 Rank – 21: Atlanta is getting exposed more and more, and teams know what to exploit. That being the Thrashers are really easy to score on. Standout – I don’t typically put much stock in +/- but Nik Antropov may want to try golf because that -13 is the envy of the league. I think he misses Max Afinogenov.

26. Buffalo Sabres (6-9-3) Week 4 Rank – 29: The Sabres get a point in each game this week, including a stunner over Washington in overtime. Ilya Kovalchuk also gift wrapped an extra point with his shootout gaff. Standout – Derek Roy is consistent, and Steve Montador may be golden with his +/-, but you have to recognize that every time Ryan Miller plays the Sabres stand a chance. First game back and he trumps the Caps.

27. New Jersey Devils (5-10-2) Week 4 Rank – 30: The Kovalchuk giveth, the Kovalchuk taketh. After his shootout whiff, Ilya wins a game in overtime. The Devils manage three points, making it their most successful week so far. Standout – Ilya Kovalchuk is being paid 100 million dollars to decide games. I smell a bookie conspiracy.

28. Toronto Maple Leafs (5-8-3) Week 4 Rank – 24: No wins in three games seems bad? Try on an eight game losing streak. Since losing their first game, the Leafs have only won once, going 1-8-3. Standout – I honestly have no idea how Ron Wilson still has his job unless Brian Burke truly believes his team is just flat out awful. Put it that way and it makes perfect sense actually.

The Oilers' defense is so bad, they let whole players go in. Photo courtesy of nhl.com

29. Edmonton Oilers (4-9-3) Week 4 Rank – 26: One up a 0-6-2 record? Not quite, but the Oilers have been terrible, losing all three games this week also, including an overtime loss to the mired Devils. Standout – The Oil allowed 25 goals over four games. If their aim is to burn out goal lights, mission accomplished.

30. New York Islanders (4-10-3) Week 4 Rank – 28: And what tops the aforementioned teams’ epic failures? Another winless week equaling ten straight losses, getting only one point during that span. Not surprisingly, Coach Scott Gordon was replaced. Now it’s Jack Capuano’s mess.

Things are pretty awful on the Island. Enough to where it cost Coach Scott Gordon his position. Photo courtesy nhl.com

Standout – Dwayne Roloson for putting up with this. If I was him, and my team was playing as little offense as the Islanders and the garbage guy backing me up is set for 4.5 million dollars a year for life, I would quickly find a Long Island bro and give him my pads.