NHL Power Rankings: Highs and Lows and the Race in the Metropolitan

In this week’s NHL power rankings and week in review, Dougie Hamilton makes a number correction, Jason Pominville stops himself from scoring, and a dancer’s head is blown off.

Happy Monday, everyone. It’s time for our weekly NHL power rankings and week in review. A long time ago, I was given the task of coming up with highlights and lowlights for each week to really put things into perspective of how everyone’s week is different, and every week to each person is different. So we’re taking that to the NHL.

Here’s how the first full week of March looked like for each team.

NHL Power Rankings

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1. Tampa Bay Lightning (2-1-0, +1 Goal Differential)
Last week: 1

Highlight: Became the first team to clinch a playoff spot. Surprise.

Lowlight: Somehow the Wild shut out the Lightning in Tampa. Still can’t figure that one out.

2. Toronto Maple Leafs (2-0-1, +4 Goal Differential)
Last week: 3

Highlight: Tyler Ennis dropping a hat trick on the Flames in Calgary

Lowlight: Josh Leivo scoring a revenge goal to tie the game in Vancouver.

3. Calgary Flames (1-3-0, -4 Goal Differential)
Last week: 2

Highlight: Matthew Tkachuk scoring a hat trick in a pivotal game against Vegas to regain the lead in the Pacific Division.

Lowlight: After an awful turnover in the offensive zone, David Rittich gave up a juicy rebound on a Mitch Marner breakaway that was knocked in by Zach Hyman, capping a 3-0 first period for the Leafs.

4. San Jose Sharks (2-0-0, +4 Goal Differential)
Last week: 5

Highlight: Timo Meier scoring a pair of goals against the Blues in the first, the second of which was an absolute beauty.

Lowlight: Brayden Schenn swiping the puck off the stick of Barclay Goodrow and into the net with less than a second left in the period to tie the game for the Blues.

5. Boston Bruins (3-1-0, +1 Goal Differential)
Last week: 4

Highlight: The last-minute comeback against Florida, scoring twice in the final minute of the game to change a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 win.

Lowlight: Marcus Johansson was hospitalized with a bruised lung after a nasty collision with Canes/Whalers’ Michael Ferland in the first period. So much for that trade…

6. Winnipeg Jets (1-2-0, +2 Goal Differential)
Last week: 6

Highlight: Blowing the doors off the Hurricanes with a four-goal first en route to an 8-1 win in Carolina.

Lowlight: Cedric Paquette burying an odd angle shot after a failed clearing attempt behind the Winnipeg net, salting away a big win for the Lightning.

7. Pittsburgh Penguins (3-1-0, +3 Goal Differential)
Last week: 8

Highlight: Jared McCann starting and finishing a shorthanded breakaway against the Bruins.

Lowlight: Erik Gudbranson deflecting a Henrik Borgstrom shot into his own net. Gudbranson also no longer plays for the Panthers.

8. New York Islanders (2-1-0, -1 Goal Differential)
Last week: 7

Highlight: Devin Toews catching a beautiful saucer pass from Michael Dal Colle to give the Isles a 2-1 lead against Ottawa.

Lowlight: Robin Lehner is injured, and the Isles desperately hope it’s not for an extended period of time.

9. Washington Capitals (3-0-0, +7 Goal Differential)
Last week: 11

Highlight: Carl Hagelin scoring on a breakaway straight outta sin-bin for what would be the game winner against Winnipeg.

Lowlight: Claude Giroux and Oskar Lindblom playing catch on a goal that would fuel a mad dash comeback by Philadelphia, which came up just short.

10. Nashville Predators (1-1-0, -2 Goal Differential)
Last week: 10

Highlight: There may be no better defenseman at rushing to the net than Roman Josi, as exemplified here against Minnesota.

Lowlight: Jordan Martinook’s insurance marker for the Hurricanes, which would be the difference in the end.

11. Carolina Hurricanes (1-1-1, -6 Goal Differential)
Last week: 9

Highlight: Sebastian Aho’s second goal of the game against the Bruins was off a beautiful spring play by Nino Niederreiter.

Lowlight: Some people made remarks about Dougie Hamilton wearing #19 in the Whalers throwback uniforms, so he fixed it during practice. Nice.

12. Vegas Golden Knights (2-1-0, +2 Goal Differential)
Last week: 12

Highlight: Scoring five goals in the first 14 minutes in their 6-2 win in Vancouver.

Lowlight: Mikael Backlund’s deflection goal that was reviewed and ultimately upheld, which would be the game winner for the Flames in Sunday’s showdown.

13. St. Louis Blues (2-0-1, +4 Goal Differential)
Last week: 15

Lowlight: Blowing a 3-1 lead late to Anaheim.

Highlight: Scoring the tying and winning goals 12 seconds apart in the last minute to save the game.

14. Columbus Blue Jackets (2-1-0, Even Goal Differential)
Last week: 13

Highlight: Oliver Bjorkstrand’s late goal against Pittsburgh was both huge for Columbus and easy on the eyes, but the real highlight here is the dancing guy behind the cannon who falls down.

Lowlight: Phil Kessel scoring the opening goal for the Penguins off a prone Joonas Korpisalo in a game Columbus desperately needed.

15. Colorado Avalanche (2-1-0, Even Goal Differential)
Last week: 16

Highlight: Mikko Rantanen displaying hands and patience on the tying goal vs Detroit.

Lowlight: Losing captain Gabe Landeskog for what will likely be the rest of the season to injury.

16. Montreal Canadiens (1-2-0, -7 Goal Differential)
Last week: 14

Highlight: Carey Price is now tied with Jacques Plante for most wins all-time by a Canadiens goalie.

Lowlight: Losing 8-2 to the…*checks notes*…Ducks? Well, if things like this Adam Henrique goal happen, you deserve it.

17. Dallas Stars (2-1-0, +4 Goal Differential)
Last week: 17

Highlight: Ben Bishop pitching back to back shutouts against the Rangers and Avalanche.

Lowlight: Anton Khudobin giving up a goal on the second shot he faced following those two shutouts in a 2-1 loss against Chicago.

18. Minnesota Wild (1-1-1, -1 Goal Differential)
Last week: 18

Highlight: Jason Zucker scoring the only three goals of the game in Tampa.

Lowlight: MacKenzie Weegar shooting one from the point, off the left butt cheek of Ryan Suter, and into the net.

19. Arizona Coyotes (2-1-0, +2 Goal Differential)
Last week: 19

Highlight: Michael Grabner scoring a pair of breakaway goals just days after returning from his gruesome eye injury.

Lowlight: An early 5v3 power play fails to convert, eventually leading to a loss to the Ducks.

20. Florida Panthers (2-1-1, +7 Goal Differential)
Last week: 21

Highlight: Alexander Barkov scoring points on five of the six Panthers goals vs Minnesota.

Lowlight: This Jake Guentzel goal shows young hockey players out there how not to play defense.

21. Philadelphia Flyers (1-1-0, +1 Goal Differential)
Last week: 20

Highlight: James van Riemsdyk scoring with just seconds left in the first to give the Flyers a lead they wouldn’t surrender on Long Island.

Lowlight: Brian Elliot stopping just 15 of 19 against Washington before getting the hook.

22. Buffalo Sabres (0-2-1, -4 Goal Differential)
Last week: 22

Highlight: A highlight reel goal by none other than Zach Bogosian on a shorthanded feed by Evan Rodrigues. You never know who’ll pop up on these blurbs.

Lowlight: Guess who stopped Jason Pominville from tying the game late against Edmonton. If you guessed Jason Pominville, you’d be correct. Thanks for playing.

23. Chicago Blackhawks (2-0-0, +1 Goal Differential)
Last week: 24

Highlight: Artem Anisimov’s first goal came off a beautiful passing play by Patrick Kane and Dominik Kahun.

Lowlight: Artem Anisimov’s second goal of the game came right after Anisimov hit the post, causing a false start from the goal horn guy.

24. Edmonton Oilers (2-1-0, +1 Goal Differential)
Last week: 25

Highlight: Zack Kassian finishing off a gorgeous deke and pass by Connor McDavid in the Oilers’ win against Vancouver.

Lowlight: John Tavares’ chip shot goal on Anthony Stolarz in the Oilers’ loss against Toronto.

25. Vancouver Canucks (1-2-0, -4 Goal Differential)
Last week: 23

Lowlight: Jacob Markstrom had a very unlucky night against Vegas, giving up a rebound and three deflections among five goals against in the first.

Highlight: The Quinn Hughes era is officially on, with Hughes signing a contract this past week.

26. New York Rangers (1-1-1, +1 Goal Differential)
Last week: 26

Highlight: Libor Hajek scoring his first career goal against New Jersey, tying up the game in the third.

Lowlight: John Klingberg’s goal was all the Stars needed to beat the Rangers in Dallas.

27. New Jersey Devils (0-2-1, -5 Goal Differential)
Last week: 27

Highlight: Blake Coleman and Travis Zajac teaming up for a gorgeous goal against the Blue Jackets.

Lowlight: Add Jesper Bratt to the excruciatingly long injury list the Devils have right now.

28. Anaheim Ducks (2-2-0, +6 Goal Differential)
Last week: 31

Highlight: Laying an eight-spot on Montreal for their biggest offensive performance of the year.

Lowlight: A three goal first by Los Angeles would be all the Kings need for the Freeway series win.

29. Detroit Red Wings (1-2-1, -7 Goal Differential)
Last week: 28

Highlight: Filip Zadina’s first career goal was no cheapie, lasered in past Colorado’s Semyon Varlamov.

Lowlight: Tyson Barrie tying the game later that night on a similar goal.

30. Ottawa Senators (0-2-1, -3 Goal Differential)
Last week: 30

Highlight: Brady Tkachuk hitting Islanders’ Brock Nelson into the glass, causing a pane to fall out.

Lowlight: Their almost upset of Boston ruined by David Krejci scoring in the last minute.

31. Los Angeles Kings (1-3-0, -7 Goal Differential)
Last week: 29

Highlight: Carl Grundstrom scoring in each of his first two NHL games, including this beauty against Anaheim for the game winning tally.

Lowlight: Adrian Kempe not scoring on this empty net, due to Jake Allen.

Schmooze of the Week: The Metropolitan Division Race

Perhaps the most competitive, wide open division in the final month of the NHL season will be the Metropolitan. Realistically, you’ll have five teams who can contend for the division crown. Those teams are: Carolina, Columbus, New York Islanders, Pittsburgh, Washington.

Let’s break down each team and how they look for the home stretch.

Carolina

The Canes are the advanced stat darlings of the league, having been near or at the top of Natural Stattricks’ lists for the entire season. This means they take more shots than most other teams, and limit shots among the best in the league. They also are near the top in scoring chance rates and high danger chance rates.

All this means is statistically, they’re really good. However, their PDO (save percentage for plus against) is really low, which means that more bounces go against them, so to speak. This means that they aren’t finishing their chances well or their goaltending isn’t great. In summation, without naming a single name on their team, they’re really good, and could be much higher up in the standings with better luck. Also, Storm Surge.

Columbus

The Jackets were the most active of these teams at the trade deadline, acquiring Matt Duchene, Ryan Dzingel, and other supporting players, while basically bowing out of the 2019 draft. Additionally, they kept pending UFA’s Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky around, despite them making it clear that they aren’t sticking around once July 1st comes around.

This means the team is much deeper in talent than they were before, but could lose it all come summer time. They aren’t playing super well post-trade deadline, which isn’t good because everyone else is. You can chalk it up to an “adjustment period”, but when you’re talking about fewer than 20 games, there’s no time for that. They’re all in now, and they’ve got everything to lose.

NY Islanders

No team is stingier defensively than the Islanders. The reason for this isn’t in fancy stats like what the Hurricanes are doing, rather it’s simply in the save percentage, where the Islanders have been the top team there for most of the year. In fact, their Corsi rate numbers are one of the worst rates in the league, meaning they give up a lot more attempts on net than they produce themselves.

Lately, this has been catching up to them, when teams just fling rubber at the Islanders’ goal and see what happens. Perhaps Robin Lehner and Thomas Greiss have been in bend don’t break mode all year, but cracks are starting to show. They’ll need more offense if they can really contend with the big players, and prove that their quiet deadline was all a part of the plan.

Pittsburgh

The Penguins always seem to hang around. Evgeni Malkin is having an off year for his standards, injuries have started to pile up, and the moves they made haven’t really moved the needle a ton in their favor.

However, as it always seems to be, whenever Sidney Crosby is around and moving, the Penguins are in contention. Connor McDavid is the most skilled player in the league, without question, but Crosby is better at making his team click. This may be the worst Penguins team we’ve seen in a long time, but they’ll still find a way to make the playoffs. Bet against them, I dare you.

Washington

Despite having a stretch mid-season where their goalies were no better than a Russian nesting doll filled with salad dressing, the Capitals are near the top of the Metro yet again and are ready for a title defense for the first time in team history. Ovechkin still leads the league in goals, and most of the team is the same as last year’s team.

They also made another shrewd blue line bolster at the deadline in Nick Jensen, just like they did last year. They’ve hung around all season, and have shown no signs of a Cup hangover. Their lower Corsi and higher shooting percentage is a bit worrisome, but not enough to put the playoffs in doubt.

So, how are we looking now? We essentially have two tiers: Caps and Isles, then Canes, Pens, and Jackets. Caps and Isles should be fine for playoff spots, considering they’re at the top now and would have to really collapse to miss it. The Canes have been surging up the standings (pun intended), and show no signs of slowing down. The Penguins have been quietly taking care of business, as usual. The Blue Jackets, however, haven’t been as good as one would think after a busy deadline. Things need to click soon, or the Blue Jackets may just be that odd team out.

So barring a big streak in either direction for any of these teams, or a collapse of Atlantic wild card Montreal, only four of these five teams will make the playoffs, and it looks like right now, Columbus could be on the outside looking in. At least they went for it.