NHL Power Rankings: Kings back on top, Lightning rising fast

After a fairly surprising strong start to their season, the Detroit Red Wings are back to being right around where they were expected to be. Their 2.89 goals per game is slightly below average, ranking 17th in the NHL. Meanwhile, the Red Wings are allowing 3.22 goals against per game, 12th in the league. Their power play was borderline historically bad last season, so seeing it rise to above 15 percent is a good sign. Even if it is still below average.

The Atlantic Division has been fascinating so far. Teams are either doing extremely well or just so and so. No team has been overwhelmingly awful. The Bruins are one of the latter teams. Granted, they’ve been without star center Patrice Bergeron. And Tuukka Rask recently got injured. But still, the Bruins need to pick up the pace soon.

The Washington Capitals are off to a very concerning start. After starting the season 2-0-1, they have lost four of their last seven games in regulation, including another in overtime. The Capitals defense really misses Matt Niskanen. Also, their offense has been highly inconsistent. And even when it has been good, they rely far too heavily on Evgeny Kuznetsov, Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom.

The Anaheim Ducks slow start requires a bit of context. Considering how injured they have been, it’s sort of impressive they’re managing to tread water. If the Ducks can continue to not dig themselves into a massive hole, they’re a good bet to improve a lot once they get healthy.