Well, after my pal Scott Burnside handled the opening month of the Power Rankings, the baton has been passed on to yours truly for November, and I intend to shake things up! For starters, let's switch SoCal clubs at the top.
| 2014-2015 Power Rankings: Week 4 | ||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | |
| 1 | 1 Last Week: 2 | A four-game road trips nets wins in Chicago, Dallas and Colorado, each coming with a different goalie. Make it 11 goals in 13 games to open the season for star winger Corey Perry. Wow. | ||
| 2 | 9 Last Week: 11 | The high-flying Penguins lead the NHL with a whopping 4.10 goals per game. Their current four-game win streak includes wins over Nashville, New Jersey and Los Angeles, the margin of victory over each by three goals or more. | ||
| 3 | 3 Last Week: 6 | The Wild's three-game win streak includes decisions over Boston, San Jose and Dallas. Remember when this team couldn't score (24th last season, 22nd the season before that)? This season, the Wild are third at 3.40 goals per game (plus are first at 1.80 goals against per game). The Wild host the Penguins on Tuesday night in a nice, early test. | ||
| 4 | 1 Last Week: 5 | Few thought it made much sense for the Caps to trade prospect Filip Forsberg to the Predators at the March 2013 trade deadline (for Martin Erat and Michael Latta). What a deal indeed by Preds general manager David Poile. Forsberg, 20, leads the Preds in scoring with 11 points (3-8) in 11 games, and the best is yet to come. | ||
| 5 | 4 Last Week: 9 | One free-agent signing that's looking like gold so far is that of Anton Stralman. At $4.5 million a season for five seasons, the 28-year-old already looks like a bargain compared to some other blue-line contracts, following up a strong playoffs with the Rangers by opening the season with nine points (1-8) in 12 games, a team-leading plus-13 and strong Corsi stats. | ||
| 6 | 15 Last Week: 21 | Four straight wins for the injury-riddled Blues. Team scoring leader Vladimir Tarasenko has been huge with 11 points (6-5) in 10 games. The Blues go back-to-back Monday and Tuesday at the Rangers and Devils. | ||
| 7 | 6 Last Week: 1 | Whoa, baby, this has been the road trip from hell so far for the Kings, who have dropped all four games (0-3-1) in Philly, Pittsburgh, Detroit and Carolina before wrapping up the trek in Dallas on Tuesday night. The Kings are 25th in goals per game (2.25), which somewhat explains the recent struggles. | ||
| 8 | 1 Last Week: 7 | Guess who is averaging only 2.25 goals per game? The Blackhawks have been stymied despite all their talent. It isn't for a lack of trying, with the Hawks launching 80 shots this weekend at Toronto and at home to Winnipeg but coming up with only two goals. It's just a matter of time before they explode for a bunch. | ||
| 9 | 6 Last Week: 3 | The Canadiens host the Blackhawks on Tuesday at a time when the Habs aren't playing very well defensively. Montreal has been outshot 104-64 in its last three games, and only a Carey Price masterpiece Sunday in Calgary prevented all of them from being losses. Montreal is giving up on average a half a goal more than it is scoring, a trend that will undo its strong start if not rectified shortly. | ||
| 10 | 3 Last Week: 13 | Impressive wins over the Caps and Kings last week were dimmed by a road loss to the lowly Sabres, albeit in a game in which the Red Wings outshot Buffalo 38-21. Nice start, by the way, for Justin Abdelkader, who has 10 points (5-5) in 11 games. | ||
| 11 | 3 Last Week: 14 | A four-game win streak was snapped by the Preds on Sunday night but the Canucks can't be disappointed with their opening month. And how about Ryan Miller? He leads all goalies with eight victories, motivated no doubt to repair his reputation. | ||
| 12 | 4 Last Week: 8 | Burnside got a little overexcited last week with his ranking, but it doesn't change the point: It's simply remarkable what Bob Hartley is doing with this lunch-bucket crew. Weekend wins over the Preds and Canadiens have the Flames continuing to surprise. | ||
| 13 | 3 Last Week: 16 | Interesting that what was supposed to be a wide-open net in this season has seen Alex Stalock start four games. Antti Niemi has been solid, for the most part. Both goalies have nearly identical save percentages (.924 for Stalock, .923 for Niemi). It stands to reason that if Stalock wants to take over the job, a tie isn' t good enough. He has to show he's better. | ||
| 14 | 4 Last Week: 10 | Before the season, I picked the Devils to make the playoffs, and so far they haven't disappointed. They followed up an awful 8-3 loss to the Penguins last week with wins over the Jets and Blue Jackets. | ||
| 15 | 3 Last Week: 18 | Claude Julien, one of the game's best head coaches, got a well-earned contract extension. He's earning every penny with all the injuries on defense. The B's kicked off a four-game homestand with a solid 4-2 win over the Senators on Saturday night. | ||
| 16 | 8 Last Week: 24 | The Panthers were a hot pick to be much-improved this season, and we're beginning to see why. The young club has points in six straight games (4-0-2) and stands third in goals against per game at 1.89. | ||
| 17 |
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Last Week: 17 | Speaking of popular preseason picks, the Stars are winless in their last four games (0-2-2) and clearly need to tighten up defensively. They have a tough week ahead with games against the Kings, Preds and Sharks. | ||
| 18 | 6 Last Week: 12 | After opening the season 4-1-0, the Senators have dropped four of their last five games and have been outshot in four straight. A four-game homestand kicks off Tuesday with the Red Wings, followed by the Wild, Jets and Senators. | ||
| 19 | 1 Last Week: 20 | The shoulder injury to captain and star blueliner Ryan McDonagh, who is out three to four weeks, is a brutal blow. The Blueshirts are giving up 3.00 goals per game, which is not what we're used to seeing from them. | ||
| 20 | 5 Last Week: 25 | Three wins in a row for the Leafs, who began last week under incredible local pressure to get their act together. They delivered with three solid performances, including Saturday's entertaining win over the Blackhawks. | ||
| 21 | 7 Last Week: 28 | What a road trip for the Jets, who collected seven out of eight points through Long Island, New Jersey, New York and Chicago. They're getting great goaltending and playing strong team defense. | ||
| 22 | 18 Last Week: 4 | After a 4-0-0 start, the Isles have dropped five of seven games, including three straight. Last season's issue is back despite new goalies: the Isles are 29th in goals against per game at 3.54. Yikes. | ||
| 23 | 8 Last Week: 15 | I'm a huge Barry Trotz fan, but I did not jump on the Caps-are-much-better bandwagon of September. Four straight losses have exposed some same old problems; notably, defensively. | ||
| 24 | 5 Last Week: 19 | The Flyers open a four-game homestand Tuesday versus the Oilers, a 10-day set that gives them a chance to stop the early season bleeding. | ||
| 25 | 2 Last Week: 27 | The Avs have been outshot in nine of 13 games, continuing a trend from last season in which timely scoring and great goaltending made that statistic less important. Not so this season, at least so far. | ||
| 26 | 3 Last Week: 23 | Honestly, what have the Blue Jackets done to deserve the ridiculous list of injuries thrown at them? Brutal. | ||
| 27 | 5 Last Week: 22 | The Oilers are 4-0-0 against the Eastern Conference and 0-6-1 in the Western Conference. Problem is, they play in the West. | ||
| 28 | 2 Last Week: 26 | Never in my lifetime would I have ever thought I'd see a Dave Tippett team 30th in goals against per game (3.73). And, believe me, it's not on him. Shaky goaltending and porous team defense has the Coyotes licking their wounds. | ||
| 29 | 1 Last Week: 30 | That's two straight victories for the Hurricanes, who were the last team to find the win column. They're getting bodies back, which will help. | ||
| 30 | 1 Last Week: 29 | They probably deserve a better ranking after beating the Red Wings on Sunday, but the fact is, they are the worst team in the league. | ||
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