NHL Weekly 5's from the Sports Mac: November 17th, 2010

This Week's News

1.  The first coaching casualty of the year come from the Islanders, who canned Scott Gordon after a 10-game winless stretch that sent New York to the bottom of the league.

2.  The Canadiens lose defenseman Andrei Markov for what could be a significant amount of time with a right knee injury suffered over the weekend.

3.  The Flyers lock up another one of their big stars, signing Jeff Carter to an 11-year contract extension that will keep him in orange and black until 2022.

4.  The Lightning lose an offensive weapon as Vincent Lecavalier will be out for four to five weeks following surgery for a broken right hand.

5.  The Kings lose a piece of their puzzle with left wing Scott Parse out until February after having surgery on one of his hips.

Best Teams Right Now

1.  Washington Capitals (13-4-1, 27 points): The Southeast Division leaders are back to the scoring machine they were last year, averaging over 3.5 goals per game.

2.  Philadelphia Flyers (12-5-2, 26 points): The Atlantic Division leaders have won nine of their last 11 games and have a five-point cushion in their division.

3.  Montreal Canadiens (12-5-1, 25 points): The Northeast Division leaders have been riding the hot goaltending of Carey Price to rise to the top of their group.

4.  Los Angeles Kings (12-4-0, 24 points): The Pacific Division leaders have been getting it done with defense, allowing just over two goals per contest so far this year.

5.  Detroit Red Wings (11-3-1, 23 points): The Central Division leaders have won three straight and eight of ten to take a slim advantage over St. Louis.

Worst Teams Right Now

1.  New York Islanders (4-10-3, 11 points): They haven’t won in their last 10 games, cost Coach Scott Gordon his job and have dropped to the bottom of the league.

2.  Edmonton Oilers (4-9-3, 11 points): The growing pains continued for the young Oilers, showcased by an 8-2 defeat to the Rangers last weekend.

3.  New Jersey Devils (5-11-2, 12 points): The defense has improved slightly, but they have a long way to go to even think about getting close to the playoff chase this season.

4.  Calgary Flames (7-9-0, 14 points): The other team in Alberta is showing its problems as well, as their GAA has crept above three per game.

5.  Florida Panthers (7-8-0, 14 points): While they’re outscoring teams this year (+5 in GD), it’s not translating to tallies in the win column.

League-Leaders to Watch

1.  Steven Stamkos, Lightning C: The Tampa Bay triggerman continues to have a breakout season and still is on top of the league with 15 goals this season.

2.  Henrik Sedin, Canucks C: He continues to be more of a distributor than scorer from the middle of the top line as his 21 assists is five better than anyone else in the league.

3.  Steve Montador, Sabres C: Even though his team is struggling a bit, things have been good when he is on the ice; he’s now +13 on the season to lead the league.

4.  Mathieu Garon, Blue Jackets G: He’s won four of his five starts and in his six games total, he’s allowing just 1.28 goals to hold a slight advantage over Tim Thomas of the Bruins.

5.  Sergei Bobrovsky, Flyers G: The recent hot streak by Philadelphia has benefited the Russian rookie as he is tied for the league lead with 11 wins so far.

Weekend Games to Watch 

1.  Lightning at Flyers, Thursday, 7:00 p.m. ET, NHL Network: Tampa Bay and scoring leader, Steven Stamkos, invade Philadelphia for a showdown with the Flyers.

2.  Capitals at Thrashers, Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET, NHL Network: A Southeast Division shootout that saw 10 goals the last time the two teams met in Washington.

3.  Blackhawks at Canucks, Saturday, 10:00 p.m: Chicago makes another trip to the Pacific Northwest to face off against Roberto Luongo and Vancouver.

4.  Canadiens at Flyers, Monday, 7:00 p.m. ET: A rematch of a game that saw Montreal end Philadelphia’s 10-game unbeaten streak.

5.  Kings at Senators, Monday, 7:30 p.m: Los Angeles makes the long trip to the Canadian capital to take on an Ottawa team trying to keep pace in the Northeast Division.