NHL Power Rankings: Highs and Lows and a First Round Preview

In this, the final week’s NHL power rankings and week in review, Robin Lehner meets a child, Connor McDavid gets frustrated, and Brad Marchand shows some love.

Happy Monday, everyone. It’s the final time this season for the last week’s NHL power rankings and our 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.

It’s difficult, but highlighting each teams highs and lows is a good way of doing it. Here’s how the past week looked like for each team.

More from Puck Prose

• Detroit Red Wings 2023 Rookie Camp Has Plenty of Ups and Downs
• This Columbus Blue Jackets rookie doesn’t want to be forgotten
• 2 trades the Boston Bruins must make to secure the Stanley Cup
• 3 reasons the Avalanche won’t win the Stanley Cup in 2024
• This is a big year for Alex Turcotte and the Los Angeles Kings

NHL Power Rankings

1. Tampa Bay Lightning (3-1-0, +6 Goal Differential)
Last week: 1

Highlight: Tying the record for most wins in a season with 62.

Lowlight: Wasting a 41 save effort by Eddie Pasquale against Montreal which could have been magical win number 63.

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

Lowlight: Max Jones powering his way from behind the net to give the Ducks a 2-0 first period lead.

Highlight: Johnny Gaudreau’s hands are filthy, as exemplified here against the Kings in Los Angeles.

3. Boston Bruins (2-1-0, +4 Goal Differential)
Last week: 3

Highlight: Brad Marchand hitting 100 points on the year with this assist on Patrice Bergeron’s goal, and yelled “I love you guys” loud enough that the camera picked it up. It also helps, that this was a road game where the Bruins just got a 5-0 lead.

Lowlight: They took it easy against potential second-round opponent Tampa Bay, losing big.

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

Highlight: John Tavares scoring the ultimate revenge goal of the year on Long Island, which would prove to be the game winner.

Lowlight: Either the Justin Williams behind the net goal or the Dougie Hamilton behind the net goal for Carolina.

5. San Jose Sharks (2-1-0, +2 Goal Differential)
Last week: 7

Highlight: Erik Karlsson returning to the lineup just in time for the playoffs.

Lowlight: Martin Jones’s rebound control in the third period against Vancouver.

6. Pittsburgh Penguins (1-1-1, -1 Goal Differential)
Last week: 6

Highlight: Phil Kessel’s pair of goals to defeat the Red Wings.

Lowlight: Anthony Mantha’s speed leading to a breakaway to help Detroit beat Pittsburgh.

7. Washington Capitals (1-2-0, -4 Goal Differential)
Last week: 5

Highlight: Clinching the Metropolitan division with a win over Montreal.

Lowlight: Nick Backstrom inadvertently feeding Jonathan Huberdeau a gorgeous one timer to extend a Florida lead.

8. New York Islanders (2-1-0, +2 Goal Differential)
Last week: 9

Highlight: Gotta love these feel good stories with athletes helping kids going through tough times feel better. Good job, Robin Lehner.

Lowlight: That Tavares goal as mentioned above.

9. Winnipeg Jets (2-1-1, -2 Goal Differential)
Last week: 8

Highlight: Kevin Hayes with a pretty overtime winner in Chicago.

Lowlight: Zach Parise made Eric Comrie look silly.

10. Columbus Blue Jackets (2-1-0, Even Goal Differential)
Last week: 10

Highlight: A shootout win over the Rangers clinched a playoff spot for the Jackets, which had been tenuous up until that point.

Lowlight: Jake Debrusk got a very lucky bounce against Sergei Bobrovsky.

11. Nashville Predators (3-0-0, +5 Goal Differential)
Last week: 12

Lowlight: Fell down 2-0 early to Chicago Saturday night.

Highlight: Stormed ahead on the next five goals to win the Central Division.

12. St. Louis Blues (3-0-1, +4 Goal Differential)
Last week: 11

Highlight: Tyler Bozak slamming home a loose rebound in the dying seconds of regulation to tie it, leading to the Blues’ comeback win in Chicago.

Lowlight: Blowing a late 2-0 lead to Colorado, a game they’d later win in a shootout.

13. Carolina Hurricanes (3-0-0, +6 Goal Differential)
Last week: 14

Highlight: Ending the longest playoff drought in the league with their win over New Jersey.

Lowlight: No lowlight because of that.

14. Vegas Golden Knights (1-2-0, -4 Goal Differential)
Last week: 13

Highlight: Jon Marchessault pickpocketing Leon Draisaitl and scoring on the breakaway to extend the Vegas lead early in the second.

Lowlight: A sloppy clearing attempt leading to a turnover that the Coyotes’ Richard Panik capitalizes on.

15. Montreal Canadiens (2-1-0, +1 Goal Differential)
Last week: 15

Highlight: Debutante Ryan Poehling scoring a hat trick in his first ever game. It was also called by Bob Cole in his last ever game.

Lowlight: This Nic Dowd goal was ultimately the dagger in the Canadiens’ playoff chances, as they couldn’t respond to tie it in the remaining 37 minutes of play.

16. Dallas Stars (2-1-0, +2 Goal Differential)
Last week: 16

Highlight: Mats Zuccarello finally returning in time for a Stars playoff berth.

Lowlight: Zuccarello would miss the last two games of the season, though it’s for precautionary reasons only.

17. Colorado Avalanche (2-1-1, +2 Goal Differential)
Last week: 17

Highlight: Carl Soderberg’s redirection goal was enough to get the playoff-clinching point for the Avalanche.

Lowlight: Darnell Nurse scoring the kind of goal you don’t hope to give up during the playoffs.

18. Arizona Coyotes (1-2-0, -1 Goal Differential)
Last week: 18

Highlight: Derek Stepan deking around Marc-Andre Fleury in a beautiful move to provide a go-ahead goal for the Yotes.

Lowlight: Losing a cake matchup to the Kings while being outshot 49-24 is an easy way to guarantee missing the playoffs.

19. Florida Panthers (1-1-0, -2 Goal Differential)
Last week: 19

Highlight: Here’s your weekly Sasha Barkov highlight.

Lowlight: Pavel Zacha with a big-time power move past Aaron Ekblad and deke past Roberto Luongo for a gorgeous goal.

20. Chicago Blackhawks (2-1-1, +1 Goal Differential)
Last week: 21

Highlight: Dylan Strome’s pair of goals saved a point for the Blackhawks against the Jets.

Lowlight: Allowing 49 shots to Nashville, displaying their team defense this season in a nutshell.

21. Minnesota Wild (1-2-0, -2 Goal Differential)
Last week: 20

Highlight: A three goal first against Winnipeg to lead the way to a 5-1 win.

Lowlight: They completely mailed it in the last game of the season against Dallas, getting outshot 44-20 in a 3-0 loss.

22. Vancouver Canucks (1-1-1, +1 Goal Differential)
Last week: 23

Highlight: Thatcher Demko showing his high potential against the Sharks.

Lowlight: Troy Stecher accidentally deflecting a shot past Jacob Markstrom with 20 seconds left to give Nashville a 3-2 win.

23. Philadelphia Flyers (0-3-0, -9 Goal Differential)
Last week: 22

Highlight: Oskar Lindblom cleaning up a rebound after a great takeaway by Nolan Patrick against Dallas.

Lowlight: Brian Elliot getting pulled against St. Louis after giving up four goals on just five shots.

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

Highlight: I still don’t know how Mikko Koskinen makes this save on Nathan Mackinnon.

Lowlight: Connor McDavid may be letting things get to his head after another failed season, and he sounds like he’s finally getting fed up with it.

25. Anaheim Ducks (2-0-0, +5 Goal Differential)
Last week: 27

Highlight: This Sam Steel kid really looks like he can be something, doesn’t he?

Lowlight: Sloppy rebound control ends with Michael Amadio putting one past John Gibson.

26. New York Rangers (1-2-1, -4 Goal Differential)
Last week: 25

Highlight: Henrik Lundqvist appears to still have it.

Lowlight: They really could have used this non-goal by Chris Kreider that was taken off the line by Damon Severson.

27. Buffalo Sabres (2-1-0, +8 Goal Differential)
Last week: 29

Highlight: Finally snapped their long losing streak by beating Ottawa.

Lowlight: That and their 7-1 blowout win in Detroit was very bad for their draft lottery positioning.

28. Detroit Red Wings (1-2-0, -6 Goal Differential)
Last week: 26

Highlight: Beating Pittsburgh 4-1.

Lowlight: Losing to Pittsburgh 4-1.

29. New Jersey Devils (2-1-0, +1 Goal Differential)
Last week: 30

Highlight: Connor Carrick burying a great Drew Stafford feed to give the Devils a late lead in the Hudson River Rivalry.

Lowlight: A loss of any kind against Florida would have given them second place in the draft lottery, but they ended up winning in overtime. At least they ended the season on a high note.

30. Ottawa Senators (1-3-0, -7 Goal Differential)
Last week: 28

Highlight: Brian Gibbons finishing a give and go off a steal against the Rangers.

Lowlight: The Lightning came to town, and that went exactly as we’d expected.

31. Los Angeles Kings (2-2-0, -3 Goal Differential)
Last week: 31

Highlight: Ilya Kovalchuk is finally back in the lineup, and managed an assist in his first game back against Calgary.

Lowlight: Jonathan Quick getting pulled in that game for what seems like the millionth time this season he got taken out of a game.

Schmooze of the Week: First Round Matchups ranked on Must-See-ness

The first round of the playoffs starts on Wednesday, and fans (at least half of them, anyway) are getting ready to root their team on through the most exciting tournament in sports (do @ me, please).

Each series is going to have some great goals, beef, and beards, which is what makes playoff hockey the beautiful mess that we know and love. In this week’s Schmooze, we will rank the first round series based on how must-see they are. This is purely subjective, and will not have any bias, because the most exciting day for my Devils will be on Tuesday for the draft lottery. So don’t worry about that.

Here we go.

#8 – Columbus Blue Jackets vs Tampa Bay Lightning

These two teams have made noise over the course of the last two months, but for entirely different reasons. The Jackets went all in on this season, by trading almost their entire draft for this season’s results. This matchup with the Lightning is one of the two worst-case scenarios for Columbus, though, with the other being missing the playoffs altogether.

This is because Tampa has been putting the entire league to shame by winning a record-tying 62 games, led by Nikita Kucherov’s 128 point season. They’ve been winning games all season, most of them pretty easily. This was always going to be rough to watch, as whomever the Lightning would play would be totally overmatched. Yup, that’s the case.

#7 – Colorado Avalanche vs Calgary Flames

The Avalanche seemed to have backed into the playoffs, with the other contenders fading down the stretch a lot more than the Avalanche have jumped into their spot. The Avs have spent portions of the season having similar goaltending situations like that of a colander, and are a very top heavy offense. This should be an easy matchup to shut down by the Flames’ stout defense.

The Flames also boast a frighteningly deep forward group. They’ve been riding a hot streak most of the season, and have been outscoring their somewhat problematic goalie situation enough to still be considered an elite team. That goalie scenario could be the downfall of the Flames, but don’t expect that to be an issue until Round Two.

#6 – St. Louis Blues vs Winnipeg Jets

The Blues were at one point on the verge of bottoming out and trading away their star players for futures. Along came Jordan Binnington, and the Blues began to win and win in bunches. There even came a point where the Blues held first in the Central on the final day of the season. They’ve rebounded nicely and scored a good matchup against Winnipeg.

The Jets were expected to be elite this year, but not once seemed like the juggernaut experts thought they’d be this season. That doesn’t mean they aren’t actually good, just that they could be a whole lot better. It could be that they turn it on in the playoffs, where the Whiteout will be in full effect. This series has game 7 potential, though. It’s just not so high profile as other matchups.

#5 – Dallas Stars vs Nashville Predators

Dallas is a team that has been powered by goaltending and a very top heavy offense. The stout duo of Ben Bishop and Anton Khudobin have masked the fact that there just isn’t much offense outside of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Alex Radulov. They have the potential to be an upset special team because their goalies can steal a game or two, especially against a team that’s struggled with an offense like Nashville.

The Preds’ skaters are the polar opposite of Dallas. The Preds have an elite blueline, and a deeper lineup at forward but missing that true star power. They also have a good goaltending duo, but Pekka Rinne had a lousy second round last year against Winnipeg, which could haunt them this year at some point. These two teams matchup in next year’s Winter Classic, so having these two teams beef for a good series is great for the league going forward.

#4 – Pittsburgh Penguins vs New York Islanders

The Penguins spent a small amount of time this year in eighth place in the Metropolitan Division but came back from the dead as they always seem to do and even made a push at home ice for the first round. They come into a New York Islanders team that surprised everyone with actually being good despite losing their franchise cornerstone in the off-season.

These two teams have beefed before, and there was one point where things got a little out of hand. They are also evenly matched in terms of how their styles play, with Pittsburgh being an opportunistic rush team, and the Islanders being a stout defensive squad with hot goaltenders. This can really go either way.

#3 – Carolina Hurricanes vs Washington Capitals

We’re putting this series here because it may just be the most entertaining actual hockey you’ll see. The Hurricanes put up frighteningly good possession and shot numbers, and are finally playing playoff hockey for the first time this decade. The Canes have been fun to watch all year, and are clearly this year’s Cinderella coming into the dance.

Their opponent in the first round? Oh, just the defending Cup champs. No biggy. Additionally, not much has changed between this year’s Caps and last year’s party squad. This tilt will be very entertaining, likely back and forth, and includes the David and Goliath type storyline that plays well for this time of year.

#2 – Vegas Golden Knights vs San Jose Sharks

This matchup is proving to a very interesting one, based on how these teams trended after the trade deadline. Vegas landed Mark Stone and went streaking to the point where home ice in the first round wasn’t out of the question. The Sharks, meanwhile, limped to the finish after suffering through injuries and tough goaltending.

Now, though, everyone’s healthy, including Erik Karlsson, and the Sharks have their backs against the wall in terms of their contention window. They’ll be all in on this year, and the Knights are ready and willing to steal that future away for the second time in as many years. The Sharks have the edge up front, but the Knights have goaltending. This will be fun.

#1 – Toronto Maple Leafs vs Boston Bruins

Oh, come on. You knew this would be number one. A rivalry that dates back to the 1920’s, tons of talent, recent history that leans in favor of one team, a Cup drought in arguably the sport’s biggest city, a cap window that’s closing quickly, and Brad Marchand. This series has everything you can want in hockey this time of year.

Playoff hockey is the best because of this type of series. There will be beef. There will be animosity. There will be scoring. There will be goaltending. There will be desperation. There will be licking (maybe). It’s got everything you could possibly ask for, and this is just the first round. Now, people want to see these type of series later in the playoffs, but it’s still nice to have it at all, so let’s not complain here.