NHL Power Rankings: Highlights and lowlights of Week 2

In this week’s NHL Power rankings and highlights and lowlights, the Canucks name a captain, a referee assists a goal, and the Kings fail at trolling.

Happy Wednesday, everyone. Welcome back to the power rankings on their normal day. This week, we got a little more balance to our wacky rankings from last week, but still, sample sizes are small, so there’s still some sorting out to do.

We check out each team’s week, present a highlight and lowlight of the week, to try and put into perspective the ups and downs everyone goes through throughout a week in the season. Later, we’ll see the best and worst teams this week.

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

How did the NHL improve on week one? Let’s find out.

NHL Power Rankings

1. Carolina Hurricanes (2-1-0, +4 Goal Difference)
Last Week: 1

Highlight: Everything but their penalty kill against the Islanders, winning decisively 5-2.

Lowlight: They finally lost a game *checks notes* at the hands of *checks notes again* the Blue Jackets?

2. Buffalo Sabres (3-0-0, +5 GD)
Last Week: 4

Highlight: Marco Scandella finishing off a nice passing play to double the lead in the third against Florida.

Lowlight: They blew that lead, but won in a shootout. So basically they tied kinda (thanks, NHL…)

3. Colorado Avalanche (3-0-0, +6 GD)
Last Week: 6

Highlight: Andre Burakovsky’s spin-o-rama to bar down goal which became the eventual game winner against Boston.

Lowlight: Nick Schmaltz forcing OT with a late goal for Arizona, coaxing out a point for the Coyotes in an eventual loss.

4. Pittsburgh Penguins (3-0-0, +9 GD)
Last Week: 17

Highlight: Sidney Crosby’s perfect deflection goal to give the Penguins an important lead over the Ducks.

Lowlight: It’s never good to let up a goal from behind the goal line, which Pittsburgh did in Winnipeg courtesy of Mathieu Perreault.

5. Boston Bruins (2-1-0, +3 GD)
Last Week: 5

Highlight: David Pastrnak scoring all four goals to defeat the Ducks.

Lowlight: After getting an early 2-0 lead in Colorado, surrendering the next four to lose the game.

6. Edmonton Oilers (2-1-0, +1 GD)
Last Week: 3

Highlight: Connor McDavid tying the game in the final minute against New Jersey, beating the ref’s whistle to do so.

Lowlight: Alexander Nylander taking advantage of a turnover, a defenseman who misread the play, and an over-aggressive Mike Smith (is there any other kind?) to pot a GWG for Chicago.

7. Toronto Maple Leafs (2-1-0, +1 GD)
Last Week: 8

Highlight: A full-fledged beat down of the Red Wings, out-Corsi-ing Detroit 74-46 in a 5-2 win.

Lowlight: Ondrej Palat scoring a late goal off a defender’s skate for the Lightning with the assist going to referee Marc Joannette.

8. Nashville Predators (2-1-0, +1 GD)
Last Week: 11

Highlight: Two goals in 30 seconds in the final five minutes against Washington to win the game 6-5.

Lowlight: A couple of failed clearances by Mattias Ekholm and Dante Fabbro leading to an easy Ilya Kovalchuk tap-in in their loss to the Kings.

9. Vegas Golden Knights (2-2-0, +1 GD)
Last Week: 7

Highlight: A perfect 3/3 on the power play against the Kings in a 5-2 win.

Lowlight: Allowing three early goals in the second period against Nashville in a 5-2 loss.

10. Anaheim Ducks (1-2-0, -2 GD)
Last Week: 2

Highlight: Ryan Miller’s 26 saves was just enough to hold on against the Blue Jackets.

Lowlight: Allowing the GWG to Jake Guentzel and Sidney Crosby in the third period in Pittsburgh.

11. Vancouver Canucks (3-0-0, +10 GD)
Last Week: 26

Highlight: The Sedin Twins coming into the locker room to name Bo Horvat the newest captain of the team.

Lowlight: The Flyers shredding the Canucks’ backcheck in a great passing play to set up the tying goal with five minutes to go in the third.

12. Washington Capitals (1-2-0, -1 GD)
Last Week: 9

Highlight: John Carlson burying a give-and-go to give the Caps a nice GWG in Dallas.

Lowlight: Giving up four goals in the first period to Colorado, proving too much to come back from.

13. Philadelphia Flyers (1-1-1, +2 GD)
Last Week: 14

Highlight: Carter Hart’s miracle save on Taylor Hall to keep New Jersey off the board on a 5v3 power play.

Lowlight: A bad transition play leading to a bad turnover which was capitalized on by Calgary’s Michael Frolik.

14. Tampa Bay Lightning (2-1-0, +4 GD)
Last Week: 20

Highlight: Brayden Point is back and with a vengeance, scoring in his season debut.

Lowlight: Getting beaten soundly by Ottawa, and deserving it. At least they aren’t last in the league in Corsi% (thanks to the Rangers, Tampa is now second to last).

15. Florida Panthers (1-0-2, 2 GD)
Last Week: 25

Highlight: Coming back from an early 4-1 deficit in New Jersey.

Lowlight: Linus Ullmark’s 41 save performance plus shootout saves to stave off a furious Florida effort.

16. Arizona Coyotes (2-0-1, +4 GD)
Last Week: 22

Highlight: Christian Dvorak’s perfect saucer pass to Nick Schmaltz to give the Coyotes an eventual GWG.

Lowlight: Andre Burakovsky’s OT goal was the only thing that prevented a perfect week for Arizona.

17. St. Louis Blues (1-1-1, -2 GD)
Last Week: 12

Highlight: Scoring four goals in the third period to come back against the Senators for a 6-4 win.

Lowlight: I’m still not sure how this third-period goal managed to find its way in the net, credited to Brendan Gallagher and giving the Habs a 5-3 lead.

18. New York Rangers (0-1-0, -3 GD)
Last Week: 10

Highlight: Kaapo Kakko scoring his first NHL goal against Edmonton.

Lowlight: That’s all they got this week, with Connor McDavid scoring the GWG on the power play in the third by banking a pass off a Rangers defender.

19. Montreal Canadiens (1-2-1, -2 GD)
Last Week: 15

Highlight: Artturi Lehkonen’s tenacious wraparound goal giving the lead for good to the Habs over the Blues.

Lowlight: Leaving Steven Stamkos all on his lonesome to score an easy goal during a three goal burst in three minutes of play to give the Lightning all they needed to win.

20. Calgary Flames (2-2-0, -4 GD)
Last Week: 18

Highlight: David Rittich stopping Alex Radulov on a penalty shot in overtime, leading to an eventual shootout win.

Lowlight: Ryan Reaves intercepting a pass and scoring a back-breaking goal for the Knights in a 6-2 rout.

21. Winnipeg Jets (2-2-0, -3 GD)
Last Week: 19

Highlight: Patrik Laine scoring four points in a 5-2 win over the Wild.

Lowlight: Sam Lafferty scoring off a Jets’ skate to give the Pens an insurmountable lead.

22. Chicago Blackhawks (1-1-1, Even GD)
Last Week: 23

Highlight: Corey Crawford’s 27 saves leading to a the team’s first win of the season against Edmonton.

Lowlight: Brent Burns scoring off a Chicago defender to tie the game for the Sharks.

23. New York Islanders (2-1-0, -2 GD)
Last Week: 21

Highlight: Mat Barzal’s last-minute game-tying goal against the Blues. The Islanders would win in OT.

Lowlight: The Hurricanes outshot the Isles 37-10 at 5v5 play in their 5-2 stomping in Carolina.

24. Detroit Red Wings (1-2-0, -5 GD)
Last Week: 13

Highlight: Yet another Anthony Mantha goal serving as the deciding tally, this one against Montreal on the power play.

Lowlight: Ilya Mikheyev winning the race to the puck between him and several Red Wings, including the goalie Jimmy Howard.

25. Los Angeles Kings (1-3-0, -8 GD)
Last Week: 16

Highlight: Alex Iafallo scoring in the last minute to give the Kings a 5-4 lead over Nashville.

Lowlight: The Kings attempted to troll the Washington Nationals during Game 5 of the NLDS between the Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers when the Dodgers were up 3-0 in the sixth. The Nationals are now the NL representative in the World Series, while the Kings lost that night 8-2 against Vancouver. Whoops.

26. Columbus Blue Jackets (1-1-0, Even GD)
Last Week: 27

Highlight: Pierre-Luc Dubois scoring on a partial breakaway to become the only guy in the NHL who has a GWG against the Hurricanes this year.

Lowlight: Jakub Silfverberg teaming up with Rikard Rakell and a linesman to score a shorthanded goal for the Ducks in their 2-1 win in Columbus.

27. San Jose Sharks (2-0-0, +3 GD)
Last Week: 31

Highlight: Patrick Marleau is back with the Sharks, scoring two in his season debut. The Sharks are undefeated with Marleau in the lineup now.

Lowlight: Andrew Shaw finishing off a turnover by Erik Karlsson to give the Hawks a 3-2 lead.

28. Dallas Stars (0-2-1, -7 GD)
Last Week: 24

Highlight: Jamie Benn finally scoring a goal.

Lowlight: The Stars blew a 2-0 lead in that game against the Flames, falling in a shootout. They’d score one more goal the rest of the week.

29. Ottawa Senators (1-2-0, -2 GD)
Last Week: 30

Highlight: Vladislav Namestnikov scoring the game winning goal with three minutes left against one of his former teams in his Ottawa debut.

Lowlight: Failing to score on a 2-on-0 break plus a rebound chance against the Blues.

30. Minnesota Wild (1-3-0, -6 GD)
Last Week: 29

Highlight: Viktor Rask’s third-period goal was the deciding goal in a 2-0 win in Ottawa.

Lowlight: Pittsburgh scoring three times in two and a half minutes in the second to bury the Wild.

31. New Jersey Devils (0-3-1, -9 GD)
Last Week: 28

Highlight: Kyle Palmieri scoring in his 500th NHL game.

Lowlights: Let’s recap them in the Team in the Box feature, as there are many.

Team of the Week

The Vancouver Canucks are this week’s team of the week. They started the week as strong as possible, flexing an 8-2 win over the Kings, getting the first career goal for Quinn Hughes along the way. They also tossed aside the Red Wings 5-1 and edged the Flyers in a shootout.

There is a ton of young offense on this team, and they really are fun to watch. The goaltending situation looks much better at first glance this season, with Thatcher Demko and Jacob Markstrom combining for a .927 save percentage so far (seventh-best in the NHL). Maybe they’ll actually be good this year?

Team in the Box

The New Jersey Devils are having a really bad start to the season, despite the excitement over the summer. Just this week, they dropped four games embarrassingly, including the following:

• A 4-0 loss on national TV to the rival Flyers, including not scoring on a two-minute 5v3 power play, giving up two goals in the first minute of the third period, and this laugher by Kyle Palmieri to salt the wound.
• Holding a lead on the Oilers with a minute left to go before Connor McDavid buries a tying goal on the power play, losing in a shootout.
• Getting shut out by the Bruins, whose first goal was scored off the face of Jack Studnicka.
• Jumping out to a 4-1 lead at home against the Panthers, only to give up the next five.

Fans are calling for coach John Hynes’ job, and they may have a point. You have to think they’re too talented to be this bad. But then again, the Blues were in last place as recently as January, and they won the Cup. So hope is there in New Jersey, the season is still young.