Updated: March 14,2016, 12:46PM,EDT
By Joe McDonald (posted March 14,2016)
The Washington Capitals
were close to being dethroned last week, but because the Anaheim Ducks
lost three consecutive games, they were able to hang on to the top spot
in this week's Rankings.
| 2015-2016 Power Rankings: Week 23 | ||||
| RANK | TEAM / RECORD | TRENDING | COMMENTS | |
| 1 |
--
Last Week: 1 | T.J. Oshie matched a career high with his 21st goal of the season; Justin Williams reached the 20-goal plateau for the fifth time. The Capitals are 5-4-1 in their past 10. | ||
| 2 | 2 Last Week: 4 | Like many of the other top teams, the Blackhawks are 5-4-1 in their past 10. Chicago suffered a big 5-2 loss to the Stars on Friday night in Dallas. The Blackhawks received a boost with the return of Marian Hossa, who missed nine games with a leg injury. | ||
| 3 | 1 Last Week: 2 | The Ducks are 7-2-1 in their past 10 games but have lost three in a row. Later this week, the Ducks host the Rangers and the Bruins in two key matchups. | ||
| 4 | 1 Last Week: 5 | The Blues regained a tie for first in the Central with a 5-4 overtime win over the Stars on Saturday. Dallas tied the game with 1:12 remaining in regulation, but the Blues' Alex Pietrangelo scored at 2:11 of OT for the victory. | ||
| 5 | 2 Last Week: 3 | Ben Bishop posted his 16th career shutout and fourth of the season with a 4-0 win over the Blue Jackets on Sunday. The win ended Tampa's three-game losing skid. Captain Steven Stamkos reached the 30-goal plateau for the fifth time. | ||
| 6 | 2 Last Week: 8 | The Stars posted a big 5-2 win over Blackhawks on Friday to temporarily gain sole possession of first in the Central. However, the Blues defeated the Stars in OT on Saturday, and the teams now share the division lead with 91 points. | ||
| 7 | 2 Last Week: 9 | David Pastrnak scored a pair of goals to help the Bruins extend their points streak to seven games (5-0-2) with a 3-1 win over the Islanders on Saturday. Pastrnak has four goals in his past four games. The Bruins also gained sole possession of first in the Atlantic. | ||
| 8 | 2 Last Week: 6 | The Kings are 7-2-1 in their past 10 but lost to the Devils 2-1 in OT on Saturday. | ||
| 9 | 1 Last Week: 10 | The Islanders are 7-2-1 in their past 10. Jaroslav Halak will be sidelined at least six weeks with a lower-body injury, which means Thomas Greiss should see the bulk of action between the pipes. Captain John Tavares became the first member of the 2009 draft class and the 11th player in franchise history to reach the 200-goal plateau. | ||
| 10 | 3 Last Week: 7 | The Rangers are 5-4-1 in their past 10 after back-to-back losses over the weekend. They lost 3-2 in OT to the Red Wings on Saturday before losing 5-3 to the Penguins on Sunday. Against the Wings, Henrik Lundqvist made 40 or more saves for the 16th time in his career (second this season); he is 9-0-7 in those games. | ||
| 11 | 2 Last Week: 13 | On Saturday, the Sharks scored three unanswered goals to earn their sixth win in their past eight games with a 5-2 victory over the Capitals. Joe Pavelski scored his league-leading 10th game-winning goal. Joe Thornton had a goal and assist and has at least one point in 34 of his past 39 games. | ||
| 12 | 1 Last Week: 11 | Reilly Smith scored twice for his fourth multigoal game of the season to lead the Panthers to a 5-4 shootout win over the Flyers on Saturday. Florida is 5-0-2 in its past seven home games. Jaromir Jagr played in his 1,615th career game to tie Larry Murphy for eighth place in NHL history. | ||
| 13 | 1 Last Week: 14 | The Predators are 7-1-2 in their past 10. But they had their points streak halted at 14 games with a 4-2 loss to the Canucks on Saturday. It was the Preds' first loss since Feb. 9. | ||
| 14 | 2 Last Week: 12 | The Penguins will be without Evgeni Malkin for the next six to eight weeks with an upper-body injury he suffered on Friday. In his absence, rookie Conor Sheary scored twice to help the Pens to a 5-3 victory over the Rangers on Sunday. | ||
| 15 | 1 Last Week: 16 | Mikael Granlund recorded his first multigoal game, including the game winner, en route to a 4-1 victory over the Canadiens on Saturday. With the win, Minnesota moved into the second wild-card position. | ||
| 16 | 1 Last Week: 15 | Brad Richards scored the tying goal with 31.8 seconds left in regulation, and Darren Helm scored the winner in OT in a 3-2 win over the Rangers on Saturday. It was Helm's third multigoal game of the season. | ||
| 17 | 1 Last Week: 18 | The Flyers are 7-2-1 in their past 10. They had a three-game winning streak snapped with a 5-4 shootout loss to the Panthers on Saturday. | ||
| 18 | 1 Last Week: 17 | Jarome Iginla recorded his 1,267th career point to tie Jean Ratelle for 36th place on the career scoring list. | ||
| 19 | 2 Last Week: 21 | The Blue Jackets are 5-4-1 in their past 10. They host the Red Wings on Thursday and Devils on Saturday. | ||
| 20 | 2 Last Week: 22 | The Hurricanes had won two in a row before a 3-2 OT loss to the Sabres on Saturday. | ||
| 21 | 1 Last Week: 20 | John Moore scored his third OT goal of the season to give the Devils a 2-1 win over the Kings on Saturday. Moore became the second defenseman in franchise history to score three or more OT goals in a season. (Scott Niedermayer had four in 2001-02.) | ||
| 22 | 3 Last Week: 19 | Craig Anderson's 29-save shutout performance led the Senators to a four-game season-series sweep over the Maple Leafs. It was his 33rd career shutout and fourth of the season. | ||
| 23 |
--
Last Week: 23 | The Jets scored three unanswered goals to overcome a 2-0 deficit en route to a 3-2 win over the Avalanche on Saturday. The win ended a three-game losing skid. Adam Lowry scored his third career winning goal. | ||
| 24 | 2 Last Week: 26 | Jack Eichel scored two goals, including the game winner with one second left in OT, in a 3-2 win over the Hurricanes on Saturday. Eichel became the first player in franchise history to score a goal at 4:59 of OT. It was his 22nd goal of his rookie season. Buffalo has picked up points in six of its past eight home games. | ||
| 25 | 1 Last Week: 24 | During a 3-2 win over the Sabres on Thursday, P.K. Subban collided with a teammate and suffered a minor neck injury. The defenseman was taken off the ice on a stretcher and went to the hospital but is expected to make a full recovery. | ||
| 26 | 1 Last Week: 25 | Making his first appearance since Dec. 8, Mike Smith stopped all 44 shots he faced en route to a 4-0 win over the Oilers on Saturday. | ||
| 27 |
--
Last Week: 27 | The Flames are 2-6-2 in their past 10. Defenseman Dennis Wideman had his 20-game suspension reduced to 10 games, but he still missed 19 games. He will get back $282,258 of the $564,516 he was originally going to forfeit. | ||
| 28 | 1 Last Week: 29 | The Oilers are 5-4-1 in their past 10 and host the Predators on Monday. | ||
| 29 | 1 Last Week: 28 | Bo Horvat scored one goal and added an assist to help the Canucks snap the Preds' franchise-record points streak at 14 games with a 4-2 win on Saturday. | ||
| 30 |
--
Last Week: 30 | Jonathan Bernier made 38 saves to post his third shutout of the season in a 1-0 victory over the Red Wings on Sunday. It was the Leafs' first regulation win since Feb. 25. Toronto is 2-6-1 in its past nine games. | ||
Ryan Bristow ·
The
Blues beat Anaheim, Chicago, and Dallas in the past three games and
have now won six in a row. They are now tied with Dallas with 91 points
(second best in all the NHL) and for the first time this season are
getting over key injuries and getting healthy. All this and they are
ranked behind Chicago and Anaheim still. Whatever.
Edward Byers ·
Certainly can see your point...perhaps past playoff failures is why they aren't seen as a stronger Cup contender?
Josh Rector ·
Chicago,
the third place team in the Central is ranked ahead of both St. Louis
and Dallas despite losing to both this week. Makes sense
Eric Kleiner ·
Edward
Byers What does PAST playoff performances have to do with the last week
of hockey? I thought everything was based on CURRENT events?
Top 5 should be: 1) Washington 2) St. Louis 3) Dallas 4) Chicago 5) Anaheim...See More  
Dan Schardan ·
My
hat is off to the Blues this week! Getting 8 big points from the Wild,
Hawks, Ducks, And Stars!!!!!!!!!!!!LETS GO BLUES!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jonathan Schmidt ·
John
Sullinger I'm a diehard Blues fan and agree with the posts, but your
comment made me literally laugh out loud!! Well played sir.
Andrew Moelis ·
Eric Kleiner - Do you honestly believe having the additional experience of having won in the past doesn't matter?
And no, not everything is based on current events, so maybe you'll want to rethink your whole thought process. The writers are usually pretty clear that these rankings are a blend of past week's performance, season performance, injuries, and expected future performance. Basically, the idea is "who would be who in a 7 game series." 
Jesse Ferner
Should
just rank the Blues 32nd.. Why not?? They are the clear #2 team in the
league and about to get their arguably best all around player back.
Here's hoping they go into the postseason healthy (unlike the past 4 years, nobody is gonna talk about that tho), and give these writers a big sht burger to eat!! LOL 
Ross Vaccaro
So if you really want to analyze ESPNs coverage of St Louis look at this weeks coverage
Blues beat the Blackhawks and Sports Center showed both Black Hawks Regulation Time goals and two goals in the Shootout and did not show any St Louis Goals in the highlights When the Blues beat the Ducks the Headline read "Streaking Blues Beat Slumping Ducks" inspite of the Ducks being on an 11 game win streak before losing to Washington and St Louis. Losing two games make you a SLUMPING team? When the Blues beat the Dallas stars the Blues out played them and were up 4-2 heading into the 3rd. The Stars, the top scoring team in the league tied the game, went to OT and the Blues won. The Headline read "Blues Blow Lead.......) Tell me ESPN doesnt down play some teams at the expense of others 
Bill Brooks
I guess that's why they call them the Blues - Sir Elton John
Michael Weiss ·
Do you honestly think they could beat the Hawks in a series? Be honest and not a Blues fan
Ross Vaccaro
If
Chicago can lose two in a row and get bumped up to number 2 in the
power rankings, last nights 5-0 asswhoopin by the kings means that the
Blackhawks will be #1 next week.
Lets be honest, they should replace the Caps because the hawks have all that playoff success and the caps havent been to a Stanley Cup. Did I get the logic wrong??? Thats how power rankings are put together?  
Michael Clarke ·
Let
me get this straight. Blackhawks lose 2 games to division rivals, one
of which was 5-2, are 5-4-1 in their last ten, and have dropped to third
in their division yet move up two spots to second in the power
rankings... okay espn.
John Sullinger
These rankings are all opinionated man, don't take everything on here to heart...especially coming from ESPN.
Bryant Steury ·
Works at EXODUS Recovery
We
did NOT deserve to be bumped up 2 spots this week, not a shot in hell.
Nashville still getting no love on the other foot. The Central is
stacked and the hawks have a great 6 year history, but if this is
supposed to be able what's been goign on th past week/month, whoever's
doing the rankings isn't watching any hockey.
Scott Boyle ·
I'm
a Hawks fan and there is no way they should be #2 right now. I still
think they are the favorites in the West when the playoffs start
(because it's the playoffs and I think they have proven how they turn
their game up to 11 when the games matter), but I wouldn't have them
higher than STL, Dallas, or Wash. Especially after their recent stretch.
Edward Byers ·
Actually
if you think they are the favorites for the West, you would have them
ranked #2, because that is what this ranking is...the chances of teams
to make the Stanley Cup finals...
Let's say the Panthers were smoking hot right now...and so were the Ducks. The Ducks would be ranked ahead of the Panthers for this simple reason - the Ducks stand a better chance of getting out of the West than the Panthers do of getting out of the East.
Scott Boyle ·
Edward
Byers I think they are the favorites mostly because I'm a homer - but
also because of their past history. This week's ranking doesn't say
anthing about the SC favorites being the reason for positioning. That
was a LeBrun thing I guess. There hasn't been any real, consistent
method to this ranking for weeks now. I also don't know what McDonald
saw over the past week to jump the Hawks from 4th to 2nd other than
Hossa coming back. It certainly wasn't their PK which got shredded
again. In the end it doesn't matter because the West is stacked again,
and the Caps will represent the East (as long as they aren't choking
dogs again). STL, Dallas, Chicago, Anaheim and LA (and even the surging
Preds) are all better than any team in the East other than Washington.
Whoever makes it through that gauntlet will be the favorites in my
humble opinion.
Matt Dupont
Edward
Byers actually that's not what this list is, whoever writes this or
small group of people that have written it have came on here numerous
times and said it was all week to week, so any team doing well enough
despite anything having to do with playoffs could rise 6-7 points best
case. Caps should have dropped 1 for sure....if they've somehow changed
these rankings to reflect their hunches on who will do well in the
playoffs, they never mentioned anything. I'm a Kings fan, they dropped 3
and are 7-2-1 in last 10, Caps are 5-4-1 and are still 1, oh well,
these rankings are pointless but seemed to sort of be truthful most of
the time, these guys must have been in Mexico for spring break last week
Edward Byers ·
Scott Boyle - I have to concede that I thought there was an established method for doing the rankings...
"Well, it has been two months, but after the disastrous efforts of colleagues Joe McDonald and Scott Burnside, I'm back to save the Power Rankings. As always, mine are based on this simple formula: If the playoffs started today, here's how I would rank my Cup contenders, with some consideration for current form but also realistic season-long trajectory" http://espn.go.com/nhl/powerrankings/_/season/2016/week/17 I pretty much thought of it as a LeBrun thing, and he has stated - repeatedly - that this is his method for ranking. If other people use other methods, then that explain why it would vary from week to week and sometimes seem illogical.... 
John Hodges
Matt
Dupont given the Caps have been outstanding all season long and these
games are pretty much meaningless to them I can see why there still #1.
Pretty tough road trip they just finished up, They faced all the strong
teams in the West and in their buildings so IMO it would be hard to
move them down in the rankings....Now having said that, I would have
understood if they did move them down a spot or to...The Caps haven't
played bad with that 5-4-1 in their last 10 except for the blowout in
San Jose that is. Grubauer was terrible......As a life long Caps
fan......the goaltending has me very worried.
Edward Byers ·
Matt Dupont - Actually, what "they" said was....
"Well, it has been two months, but after the disastrous efforts of colleagues Joe McDonald and Scott Burnside, I'm back to save the Power Rankings. As always, mine are based on this simple formula: If the playoffs started today, here's how I would rank my Cup contenders, with some consideration for current form but also realistic season-long trajectory" http://espn.go.com/nhl/powerrankings/_/season/2016/week/17
Matt Dupont
Edward
Byers well that explains things. He might have been off with Hawks at 2
and Kings at 8 with that 5-0 throttling last night. I mean maybe it's
that playoff switch that the Hawks have that the Kings don't anything
about...great timing Kings
Scott Boyle ·
Matt
Dupont Hawks were putrid again last night. Becoming a trend. Hopefully
they figure it out by the time the playoffs start (luckily, also a
trend).
Alex Ferguson ·
The
fact that Chicago moved up in the rankings just shows that ESPN knows
absolutely nothing about hockey. Power rankings should be taken with a
grain of salt anyway, but this is ridiculous. Hire an outside company to
cover hockey for you.
Andrew Moelis ·
Or
maybe it shows that you know nothing about the concept of a "power
ranking". It isn't just "who had the best record last week".
As neither a Chicago nor Washington fan, I'd put them in the top two spots if I had to bet my life savings on one of them winning the Cup. I think most others would, too. So maybe ESPN knows a tiny bit more than you think
Alex Ferguson ·
Andrew
Moelis I realize that it's not just who had the best record last week,
but the fact that Chicago moved UP after they lost to 2 division
opponents makes zero sense. You're the only person I've seen who would
put Chicago in the top 2 this week. Are they still a favorite to win the
cup? of course. Should they be in the top 2 in power rankings?
Absolutely not.
Alex Ferguson ·
Matt
Thomas lol wow. You'll see in my original post that I said these
rankings should be taken with a grain of salt. I understand that success
in the playoffs is what really matters.
Matt Thomas ·
Alex Ferguson Ohhhhhh well alright then! Go Stars!!!
Bryant Steury ·
Works at EXODUS Recovery
Andrew
Moelis These rankings are supposed to be heavily weighted based on the
activity of the last week's slate of games. It's not an overall yearly
thing. If that were the case, they'd have these rankings maybe once or
twice a season prior to teh playoffs starting. But it's mostly supposed
ot be an indicator of "what have you done for me this week?" and in that
metric, the hawks by no means deserved to move up. I was bracing myself
for them to have dropped several sports this week. I'm still very
confident in how they'll do come mid May-June, but this week was a dumpy
week from them and these rankings don't reflect it
Andrew Moelis ·
Alex
Ferguson - Perhaps you didn't actually bother to read the little blurb.
Macdonald was crystal clear in his reasoning - they got Marian Hossa
back. I think they're the second best team in the league, possibly the
best. You seem to agree. So why shouldn't they be #2? Injuries factor
in to these rankings; if Alex Ovechkin went down with a broken leg I
can bet you the Caps wouldn't be #1 this week. Works the other way,
too.
Alex Ferguson ·
Andrew
Moelis so by your logic, if Ovechkin gets injured this week, but the
Capitals still win every game for any given week they should drop in the
rankings?
Sean Sittig
Andrew
Moelis And they got shellacked by the Stars who were playing without
the entire right side of their D corps...They had a rookie playing over
17 minutes, and the best the Hawks could do against a suspect D-corps
and goaltending was 2 goals. And that was with Hossa.
Just
another fun Monday, reading fans ridiculous complaints about some
obscure ranking system run by a few people with varying opinions.
It's my new Monday entertainment. Carry on!
Bryant Steury ·
Works at EXODUS Recovery
Rabble rabble rabble!!!
Jeff Clifton ·
Bryant
Steury But, how can that be??? Rabble rabble rabble won 7 out of 8, and
beat blah blah blah who is ranked 2nd, but they should be ranked 1st,
so that should boost the ranking of rabble rabble rabble by 2.35 points
on the super duper fantastic power rankings! This is an outrage.
The
funniest thing is let alone the rankings the REAL STANDINGS mean
nothing once the playoffs start. It's fun to complain though I guess.
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