Power Rankings 3/20 through 3/28
Nothing changes at the tippy top. Boston finally had their 7-game win streak snapped Tuesday night at home vs Nashville and the rangers dropped a game to Carolina but it doesn’t matter. These 2 teams seem on a collision course for one another in the Eastern Conference Final. Some West teams are rounding into form as evidenced by their upward moves in this week’s rankings. The 5 best records in hockey for the month of March all belong to Western conference teams (Kings, Oilers, Wild, Knights, and Canucks). The “Suck Hard for Bedard” campaign is in full effect with teams like the Blackhawks, Sharks, Ducks, and Blue Jackets losing on an almost nightly basis. We will do some more digging on the biggest risers and fallers below.
Biggest Risers (hint- its only West teams)
Vegas Golden Knights #3 (previously #7) – Maybe my previous hate for this team had gone a bit too far. The injuries worried me, especially those they have suffered in the net. Logan Thompson’s return from a 6 week absence due to a lower-body injury was short-lived. He was unable to finish the March 23rd bout with the Flames and now looks like he could be out for another extended stretch. Adin Hill hasn’t played since March 7th and no current updates are available on his status. Yet with all of this, the Knights just keep winning. 11-3-0 over their last 14 games with wins against Edmonton, Calgary twice, Carolina twice, New Jersey, and Tampa during that stretch. The goaltending still worries me as it seems they are out-scoring the problems, for now, it’s just hard to keep them down.
Edmonton Oilers #8 (previously #12) – For years it feels this team’s defensive capabilities have been in question and with good reason. Even this season they lead the leagues in goals scored (see C. McDavid for more info) but also allowing the 11th most goals. All this said they have really been a different team since acquiring Matias Ekholm. 11-2-1 over that stretch, Ekholm has a +14 rating with 9 points (3 goals and 6 assists). For comparison, he only had 18 points (5 goals and 13 assists) in his 57 games with Nashville this year. It seems this acquisition has really breathed some life into this team. Before the trade, they were bouncing around from one of the 2 west wild card spots and the 3rd spot in the pacific. They have not distanced themselves from the wild card teams (7 points up on Seattle) and have even drawn within striking distance of the Kings and Knights (1 and 3 points back). We have all seen what McDavid can do in the postseason especially after carrying this team to the Western Conference Finals last year (he scored 33 points in those 16 Playoff games). One has to wonder now though with how good they are playing if Ekholm could really be the missing link for them.
Los Angeles Kings #7 (previously #10) – Kevin Fiala is back so that’s huge. Not that they really missed him. They went 4-0-2 without him but having him back will nonetheless be big for this team over these last few weeks of the season. Joonas Korpisalo has been the Goaltender they were hoping for after picking him up at the deadline. He has gone 4-1-1 in his 6 starts for Vegas and has an immaculate .931 sv% paired with a 1.82 GAA. On top of that 20-year-old and former #2 overall pick Quinton Byfield has really shown some growth here of late. With 8 points over his last 12 games and a +9 rating the budding young talent seems to have really found a home on the first line playing on Anze Kopitar’s left side. Giving up just over 2 goals per game since the beginning of March The Kings are locked and loaded for their upcoming playoff run.
Biggest Fallers (hint- its only East teams)
Toronto Maple Leafs #11(previously #5) – Ok, maybe I am being too hard on this team. But, doesn’t it feel like we have seen this story before? They are 4-3-1 over their last 8. The defense and goaltending have struggled (28 goals allowed over this stretch). The offense comes and goes averaging barely 2 goals per game in the 4 losses over this time while averaging almost 5 goals in the wins. Their defense still seems to be off as evidenced by Sheldon Keefe’s constant shuffling of their defensive pairs. On Thursday they had 7 active defensemen and Morgan Rielly who was a healthy scratch that night wasn’t one of them. I get trying to send a message to a struggling player but as the longest-tenured player on the team and real locker room leader, it feels like there may have been better ways to get a message across to your team. This just has all the feelings of another first-round exit for the Leafs however it’s not like their likely first-round opponent (The Lighting) has fared much better of late.
Tampa Bay Lighting #12 (previously #9) – Ok so my poor attempt at a segway wasn’t great but, neither has this team. They are 11-11-5 since February began. They are in no real danger of dropping in the standings (still 13 points up on the panthers). There still must be a concern here. Tanner Jeannot hasn’t been the big deadline pickup you would think he would have been (especially after what they paid for him). In his 16 games, he has 3 points, all assists, and a -6 rating. Only played 12:09 per night but racked up 22 penalty minutes over that time. 6-7-2 since making the Jeannot deal and with both a 5-game and 4-game losing streak in that stretch could this be the end of the line for this powerhouse?
New Jersey Devils #6 (previously #3) – Another deadline pickup who hasn’t quite lived up to the hype. Timo Meier has seen his points per 60 min cut almost in half since joining the devils. Going from 2.7 to 1.5 since joining the team. Currently 2-5-1 over their last 8 games a team I thought was really going to shoot for the moon after the deadline has seemed a bit off-kilter. They still have time to right the ship before the playoffs begin. However, a daunting first-round matchup against the now SURGING Rangers seems pretty scary. I really believed with the addition of Meier and the Canes losing Svechnikov for the season that we could have seen them flip places (avoiding the Rangers in the first round) they just haven’t been able to get their footing as of yet.
Other teams with notes
Florida Panthers #18 (previously #15) – A couple of weeks ago I really felt they were going to run down the Penguins for that last wild card spot. They are currently on a 4 game-losing streak which includes losses to the Flyers and Senators. The Penguins haven’t exactly run away from them still only 3 points up but, the Panthers’ poor goaltending seems to be what could ultimately keep them out of the playoffs. As a team they have the 9th worst Goals Against Average (3.45) while also having a team Sv% below .900. It is going to be an uphill battle if they still want to get in but I am beginning to believe they will avoid the privilege of being the first opponent Boston beats in the playoffs.
Nashville Predators #20 (previously #21) – I tried to write them off last week after losing Roman Josi to injury (still out but he has resumed skating) and now Losing Matt Duchene for at least a few weeks they definitely have to be done now right? Well not exactly. Despite missing $37 million dollars worth of players in Tuesday night’s tilt against the league’s best team on the road in Boston. They somehow managed to pull out a win 2-1. They sit only points back of Winnipeg and still have 2 games in hand. The math is in their favor, but the schedule is not. 7 of their last 9 games are against current playoff teams and the 2 that are not are against the Blues and Flames. This team roller-coaster season isn’t over quite yet.
As always, I hope everyone enjoys these. I would love to hear some feedback from everyone or even just some general questions that I would be happy to answer.