Puck Prose
Fansided

NHL Power Rankings Heading into Week 4 of 2016-17

By Ryan Ritchie

NHL Power Rankings: New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist (30) celebrates with New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh (27) and New York Rangers center Derek Stepan (21) after defeating the St. Louis Blues at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
NHL Power Rankings: New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist (30) celebrates with New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh (27) and New York Rangers center Derek Stepan (21) after defeating the St. Louis Blues at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
6 of 32
Next
NHL Power Rankings: Edmonton Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot (33) makes a save during the pre game warm up against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
NHL Power Rankings: Edmonton Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot (33) makes a save during the pre game warm up against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /

Previous Ranking: 5 (-)

Team Record: (7-2-1)

Player of the Week: G Cam Talbot (1 win 1.34GAA .949 save percentage)

Special Teams

PP: 4-for-29 (13.8 percent) (T-20th)
PK: 3-for-30 (90.0 percent) (T-2nd)

Goaltending

After collecting five wins in a row (including the first game of this past week) where he only allowed four goals and recorded two shutouts, Cam Talbot cooled off a bit with a pair of losses. That depends on your definition of cooling off though since he posted two more solid outings. In those three starts over the last seven days, Talbot began with a 26 save shutout in Vancouver. Two nights later, the Oilers were shut out in an emotional game with the return of Craig Anderson. Talbot stopped 20 of 21 shots but received no goal support. On Tuesday, Cam allowed more than two goals (three vs. TOR) for the first time since his ugly six-goal outing at home to Buffalo back on Oct.16.

Defense

It was a quiet three games on the score sheet for Oilers defenders, but the blue line continues to be a strong suit in Edmonton. Larsson and Klefbom are proving a dominant top pairing, while Sekera, Russell, and Nurse continue to be outstanding complimentary pieces. It will be interesting to see if Darnell Nurse can cut into Kris Russell‘s ice-time a little more as the season grows older. He’s yet to top 20 minutes in a single night, but he could be averaging close to that by the time April rolls around.

Forwards

Oilers phenom superstar Connor McDavid was named the NHL’s first star of the month in October after an impressive start to the new season. The scary part is, there’s nothing to assume that pace will slow much moving forward. He did have a quiet three games over the past week recording a single goal, but he still has an impressive 12 points in 10 games.

Only two Edmonton forwards managed to record more than one point over the last three contests. Anton Lander had a goal and an assist for two points in three games. Before that, Lander recorded a mere assist in his first six games. Milan Lucic also had two points and was the only Oilers forward to have a multi-point game since last Thursday. He had a goal and an assist in the 2-0 win in his hometown Vancouver on Friday. Lucic now has seven points in 10 games playing alongside Connor McDavid.

Home/Editorials