Power Rankings: The surging Penguins join this week’s Elite Eight
This certainly isn’t an easy time to do Power Rankings.
Games are getting postponed left, right, and center as the Omicron variant is working its way through the NHL. For the past couple of weeks, it seems that nobody is operating at full strength, so we’ll keep that in mind as we go through the Elite Eight…
The Elite Eight
1. Carolina Hurricanes (21-7-1)
The Carolina Hurricanes are this week’s No. 1 team. They ranked second in last week’s rankings and continued strong play, coupled with the Florida Panthers’ losing streak, has bumped them up to the top spot.
2. Tampa Bay Lightning (19-6-4)
The Lightning have quietly been rolling as of late, as they have points in all but one of their last nine games. The one blip on the radar for the back-to-back champs was a 4-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators, but that came at the end of a five-game road trip, so we can cut them some slack.
3. Toronto Maple Leafs (20-8-2)
An absolute spanking of the Edmonton Oilers on the road has the Leafs up a few spots from last week. They’re tied with the Lightning with 42 points and Toronto has a better goal differential, but the recent head-to-head win in Tampa Bay’s favor give the Lightning the edge.
4. Washington Capitals (18-6-7)
The Capitals are down a spot this week, due to a pair of losses to mediocre teams. Washington lost in overtime to the lowly Chicago Blackhawks and then it gave Garret Sparks his first NHL win in two years when it got dropped by the Los Angeles Kings.
Washington was also dealt an unfortunate blow last week. Nicklas Backstrom finally came off Injured Reserve, only to test positive for COVID-19 shortly after.
5. Florida Panthers (18-7-4)
Last week’s top team has fallen all the way down to No. 5. They’re currently in the midst of a three-game losing streak, which is highlighted by an embarrassing 8-2 loss at home to the Ottawa Senators. The Panthers are on pause until after Christmas and are set to come out of the break and face Carolina, the Rangers, and Tampa Bay. Not an easy slate to get out of a cold skid.
6. Colorado Avalanche (17-8-2)
We finally have our first Western Conference team. This week, the top team from out west goes to the Colorado Avalanche, who are finally rolling after a slow start. Colorado’s five-game winning streak came to an end when it lost in Nashville to the Predators last week. But we can cut them some slack since they were playing shorthanded, with several key players in COVID Protocol.
7. Minnesota Wild (19-8-2)
The Wild and Avs are pretty much a coin-flip right now, but I’m giving Colorado the edge because of better underlying numbers. The Wild are currently on a three-game losing streak that includes a loss at home to the miserable Buffalo Sabres.
8. Pittsburgh Penguins (17-8-5)
The final spot in the Elite Eight was a tough one to hand out. I went with the Penguins because they’re on a seven-game heater and they rank fourth in the league in terms of expected goals-for percentage. It’s also been pretty incredible watching the Penguins roll like this without Evgeni Malkin.
Worth Mentioning…
Right there with the Penguins are the Nashville Predators, who are also in the midst of a seven-game winning streak. Nashville’s run is also impressive because five of those wins came on the road.
The Preds look insanely difficult to score on these days. The last time they allowed more than three goals in a game was back in late November when they lost 6-2 to Colorado. If this keeps up, they could leapfrog both the Avs and Wild.
The only division without a team in the Elite Eight is the Pacific, but that could change if the Golden Knights keep rolling. Vegas is finally mostly healthy and, as a result, it’s won five games in a row and eight of its last nine.
It’ll be very interesting to see how this team looks when Jack Eichel joins them. It’ll also be interesting to see how they dance around the salary cap to make that work.
I’ll probably catch some heat for leaving the New York Rangers out of the Elite Eight this week, given they’re tied for second in the league with 42 points. But, as I explained last week when I had them ranked eighth, their underlying numbers make them appear to be a team riding an exceptional goaltender.
The Rangers rank 28th in the league in expected goals-for percentage and they might be toast if Igor Shesterkin wasn’t putting up a .937 save percentage.
This Week’s Disaster…
*Gestures broadly*
I mean, what else would it be at this point? The NHL has nearly 20 percent of the league in COVID-19 protocol and games are being postponed left, right and center. Despite the NHL trying to power through this Omicron mess and operate on a team-by-team basis, more than half of the league is currently shut down.
This isn’t going away any time soon and there are going to be a lot of games to make up. Thankfully there’s now a three-week gaping hole in the schedule as it seems unlikely that NHL players will be heading to Beijing for the Olympics.