NHL Power Rankings: streaking Montreal Canadiens escape the basement

Credit: © Eric Bolte

While some of the biggest stories in hockey right now have come off the ice, there was still plenty of action on the ice this week. The top and the bottom remained mostly the same, but it’s the middle of the pack that sees the most movement.

As I’ve done so far this season, I’ll be ranking teams not just on their results in the standings, but also with how they’ve looked in several stats as well. Otherwise I’d just copy and paste the standings, right? No fun in that. The rankings are an aggregate of six different stats: points %, 5-on-5 goal differential, 5-on-5 xGF/60, 5-on-5 xGA/60, power play xGF/60, and shorthanded xGA/60, all coming courtesy of Natural Stat Trick. But, to ground the rankings a bit, no team can be above a team that’s more than five points ahead in the standings, regardless of the aggregate.

1. New Jersey Devils

Record: 12-3-0 (0.800%, 3rd)
5v5 Goal Differential: +16 (1st)
5v5 xGF/60: 3.51 (1st)
5v5 xGA/60: 1.98 (1st)
PP xGF/60: 8.59 (t-10th)
PK xGA/60: 6.24 (5th)
5v5 PDO: 100
Previous Week: 1st (0)

The Devils stay on top for the third week in a row after extending their win streak to nine in a row, and to be honest, they may be here a while unless they start playing worse. There may be signs of that, though, as their 3-2 win over the Flames was the first time they lost the expected goals battle at 34.7%, but they made up for it with a couple dominant wins over some easy competition in the Senators and Coyotes.

2. Boston Bruins

Record: 14-2-0 (.875%, 1st)
5v5 Goal Differential: +13 (2nd)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.67 (15th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.23 (4th)
PP xGF/60: 9.6 (4th)
PK xGA/60: 5.62 (1st)
5v5 PDO: 102.9
Previous Week: 4th (+2)

The Bruins keep proving to be a tough out for anyone in the NHL, and that was even before they got defenseman Charlie McAvoy back much earlier than expected. His return certainly didn’t ruin the team’s early chemistry, as they responded to that Leafs loss last week with a four-game win streak over the Blues, Flames, Sabres, and Canucks.

3. Vegas Golden Knights

Record: 13-3-0 (.813%, 2nd)
5v5 Goal Differential: +11 (4th)
5v5 xGF/60: 3.09 (5th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.25 (5th)
PP xGF/60: 7.51 (19th)
PK xGA/60: 7.35 (t-14th)
5v5 PDO: 101.7
Previous Week: 3rd (0)

The Golden Knights are another team that just keeps on winning, as they also saw their win streak hit nine games before a loss to the Blues on Saturday night. Vegas got two more on the week beforehand though, taking advantage of a Leafs team running their fourth string goalie in net and beating the Sabres in a game where Jack Eichel had a hat trick and four points against his old team.

4. Carolina Hurricanes

Record: 9-5-1 (.633%, t-6th)
5v5 Goal Differential: +8 (t-7th)
5v5 xGF/60: 3.24 (3rd)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.09 (2nd)
PP xGF/60: 8.65 (9th)
PK xGA/60: 6.48 (6th)
5v5 PDO: 99.2
Previous Week: 2nd (-2)

The Canes fall a couple of spots this week, but they should have only fallen one, as they came out better than Vegas in the aggregate but find themselves seven points behind them. That’s mostly just due to a couple of losses last week to the Panthers and the Avalanche, but the Canes were still the better team in all three games, with at least 60% of the expected goals in each game.

5. Toronto Maple Leafs

Record: 8-5-3 (.594%, t-10th)
5v5 Goal Differential: +2 (14th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.82 (t-8th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.43 (10th)
PP xGF/60: 9.44 (5th)
PK xGA/60: 5.83 (2nd)
5v5 PDO: 99.7
Previous Week: 7th (+2)

The Leafs climb up a couple more spots this week despite losing two of their three games, and a lot of that comes to the performance of Erik Kallgren in net. He’s struggled for the most part as he’s been thrust into the starting role due to the injuries to Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov, costing the Leafs in both of their losses this week, although he did have a surprisingly solid performance on Saturday when playing both ends of the back-to-back.

A couple of tough losses last week drop the Stars down a spot after getting blown out by the Jets and losing to the Sharks despite shutting down Erik Karlsson. At the very least, Jason Robertson has certainly lived up to his new deal, with 10 goals and 23 points in just 15 games so far this year.

7. Florida Panthers

Record: 8-6-1 (.567%, t-12th)
5v5 Goal Differential: +6 (10th)
5v5 xGF/60: 3.26 (2nd)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.36 (7th)
PP xGF/60: 9.93 (2nd)
PK xGA/60: 7.71 (19th)
5v5 PDO: 99.3
Previous Week: 6th (-1)

It was a quiet week for the Panthers, as they got into just two games last week, shutting out the Hurricanes before losing to the Oilers on Saturday. If it’s any consolation, they were the more dominant team against Edmonton, and more importantly, they got Aaron Ekblad and Matthews Tkachuk back in that game.

8. Colorado Avalanche

Record: 8-4-1 (.654%, 5th)
5v5 Goal Differential: +8 (t-7th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.57 (21st)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.62 (t-15th)
PP xGF/60: 7.95 (14th)
PK xGA/60: 6.64 (8th)
5v5 PDO: 102.4
Previous Week: 11th (+3)

That trip out to Finland seems to be just what the doctor ordered for the Avs, as they are going back into the form we expected from the defending Stanley Cup champions. They only got into two games last week, but they won both games over the Preds and the Canes, so we’ll see if the Avs can keep this up as they are now without Valeri Nichushkin for at least another month.

9. New York Rangers

Record: 8-6-3 (.559%, 17th)
5v5 Goal Differential: 0 (t-16th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.86 (7th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.3 (6th)
PP xGF/60: 10.34 (1st)
PK xGA/60: 7.91 (23rd)
5v5 PDO: 98.6
Previous Week: 12th (+3)

The Rangers had themselves an excellent week even though they split their games to an even 2-2 record. They smoked the Red Wings 8-2 earlier in the week, and finished it off with a 4-1 win over the Coyotes on Sunday, and they ended up finding themselves on the wrong side of a couple of one-goal games against the Islanders and Predators, games that the Rangers still controlled a lot of the play in.

10. Los Angeles Kings

Record: 10-6-1 (.618%, 9th)
5v5 Goal Differential: +4 (t-11th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.79 (10th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.22 (3rd)
PP xGF/60: 6.85 (23rd)
PK xGA/60: 7.67 (18th)
5v5 PDO: 99.6
Previous Week: 13th (+3)

The Kings find themselves on a four-game win streak after a 3-0 week, one where they played really well in the process. Their 4-3 win over the Wings to end the week was a strong one, but it’s the Kings’ wins over Minnesota and Chicago that have more intrigue, as they had almost three quarters of the expected goals at 5-on-5. More impressively, they didn’t allow a single goal at 5-on-5 all week, either.

11. New York Islanders

Record: 10-6-0 (.625%, 8th)
5v5 Goal Differential: +10 (5th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.82 (t-8th)
5v5 xGA/60: 3.06 (t-30th)
PP xGF/60: 8.25 (13th)
PK xGA/60: 7.26 (12th)
5v5 PDO: 102.8
Previous Week: 10th (-1)

It was a bit of deja vu this week for the Islanders, as all three of their wins came at a score of 4-3, although they lose a place as they got outplayed quite a bit in two of those wins, as well as their 2-0 loss to the Coyotes. Goaltender Ilya Sorokin has really gotten into a groove in the crease so far this season is and doing a great job of masking the Islanders defensive deficiencies this year.

12. Pittsburgh Penguins

Record: 6-6-3 (.500%, t-21st)
5v5 Goal Differential: +7 (9th)
5v5 xGF/60: 3.11 (4th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.47 (12th)
PP xGF/60: 8.59 (t-10th)
PK xGA/60: 7.79 (21st)
5v5 PDO: 101.5
Previous Week: 16th (+4)

If you’ve been following these rankings weekly, the Penguins have been all over the place so far this season, going from first in the first week all the way down to 16th last week. They move up four spots this week after a much-needed recovery, going 2-0-1 on their road trip, and more importantly, ending that disastrous seven game losing streak.

13. Calgary Flames

Record: 6-6-2 (.500%, t-21st)
5v5 Goal Differential: 0 (t-16th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.76 (11th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.52 (13th)
PP xGF/60: 8.45 (12th)
PK xGA/60: 6.13 (4th)
5v5 PDO: 97.4
Previous Week: 9th (-4)

The Flames took a big drop this week after extending their losing streak to seven games earlier in the week, dropping three to the Islanders, Devils, and Bruins before finally snapping it with a 3-2 win over the Jets. Calgary looked much better last week as far as its actual on-ice play went, which is a good sign if it wants to turn this season around quickly.

14. Seattle Kraken

Record: 8-5-3 (.594%, t-10th)
5v5 Goal Differential: +9 (6th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.58 (20th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.41 (9th)
PP xGF/60: 5.21 (32nd)
PK xGA/60: 6.02 (3rd)
5v5 PDO: 101.5
Previous Week: 8th (-6)

Speaking of big drops, the Kraken took one of the biggest drops of the week after some middling play mixed in with two straight losses to end the week. They did manage to get a bit more help in net while they wait for the returns of Philipp Grubauer and Chris Driedger by claiming Magnus Hellberg, which will come in handy once Martin Jones’ surprising run of great goaltending takes a step back.

15. Winnipeg Jets

Record: 9-4-1 (.679%, 4th)
5v5 Goal Differential: 0 (t-16th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.59 (t-18th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.83 (t-23rd)
PP xGF/60: 7.22 (20th)
PK xGA/60: 6.88 (9th)
5v5 PDO: 100.6
Previous Week: 20th (+5)

The Jets have been one of the teams who rank low on here despite their impressive record, as they usually haven’t had the play to back it up. But last week, they’ve started to see that come to fruition a bit more in their games, part of the reason why they’ve climbed up this much. Still not a good sign that a team that’s fourth in points percentage is middling everywhere else, but at least there’s improvement.

16. Minnesota Wild

Record: 7-6-2 (.533%, t-19th)
5v5 Goal Differential: -10 (t-27th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.39 (24th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.39 (8th)
PP xGF/60: 9.02 (6th)
PK xGA/60: 7.29 (13th)
5v5 PDO: 97.6
Previous Week: 18th (+2)

Not every team storms up these rankings. Sometimes you have a team like the Wild, who’ve been making baby steps and working their way up slowly but surely. It’s still quite obvious that this team isn’t quite the same as last year’s after losing Kevin Fiala with no replacement for him, but they’re making their way up to a playoff spot.

17. Tampa Bay Lightning

Record: 8-6-1 (.567%, t-12th)
5v5 Goal Differential: -2 (t-20th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.75 (t-12th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.67 (18th)
PP xGF/60: 7.76 (15th)
PK xGA/60: 8.73 (t-25th)
5v5 PDO: 99.1
Previous Week: 17th (0)

It’s still a bit messy down in Tampa Bay, as the Bolts dropped two straight games to start the week to the Oilers and the Capitals before winning their end of the home-and-home with Washington on Sunday. The Lightning are going to get a bit more forward depth after claiming Rudolfs Balcers from their state rivals, but the holes left by offseason departures and injuries are still quite glaring.

18. Detroit Red Wings

Record: 7-5-3 (.567%, t-12th)
5v5 Goal Differential: -8 (26th)
5v5 xGF/60: 1.97 (30th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.68 (19th)
PP xGF/60: 7.62 (18th)
PK xGA/60: 6.57 (7th)
5v5 PDO: 99.9
Previous Week: 15th (-3)

Another team that has seen some early success despite some poor underlying the numbers, the Red Wings are starting to see that catch up with them after dropping three straight games this week, including an 8-2 stomping from the Rangers. They’ll also be without forward Matt Luff for two to three months after he took a nasty hit from Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky.

19. Edmonton Oilers

Record: 9-7-0 (.563%, 16th)
5v5 Goal Differential: -6 (25th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.66 (16th)
5v5 xGA/60: 3.06 (t-30th)
PP xGF/60: 8.98 (7th)
PK xGA/60: 8.73 (t-25th)
5v5 PDO: 99.4
Previous Week: 19th (0)

The Oilers may have went 2-2 this week and kept themselves in the same spot in the rankings, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t ugly. They took a huge blow on their depth charts as Evander Kane took a skate blade cut to the wrist and will miss a few months. They endured another horrific performance from Jack Campbell against the Hurricanes, too.

this one sums up the oilers night. 7-2 canes pic.twitter.com/VpI6Yu6jqn

— zach (@zjlaing) November 11, 2022

20. San Jose Sharks

Record: 5-9-3 (.382%, 29th)
5v5 Goal Differential: -11 (29th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.59 (t-18th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.62 (t-15th)
PP xGF/60: 8.7 (8th)
PK xGA/60: 7.84 (22nd)
5v5 PDO: 97.9
Previous Week: 22nd (+2)

The Sharks continue to climb the rankings even though they have no business being this good (or, as good as a 5-9-3 team can be). It’s not even all because of Erik Karlsson this week (although three points in three games is still a solid week), as they had a well-rounded team effort in their 5-4 win over the Stars and 3-2 win over the Wild.

21. Buffalo Sabres

Record: 7-8-0 (.467%, 24th)
5v5 Goal Differential: 2.61 (t-20th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.61 (17th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.61 (14th)
PP xGF/60: 5.55 (30th)
PK xGA/60: 7.46 (17th)
5v5 PDO: 99.4
Previous Week: 14th (-7)

The Sabres take the biggest drop of the week after losing three more games this week to extend their losing streak to five, the worst of them being the 7-4 loss to Vegas went Eichel lit it up. They seemed doomed to see this drop though, as they were certainly outperforming with their hot start to the year.

22. Montreal Canadiens

Record: 8-6-1 (.567%, t-12th)
5v5 Goal Differential: +4 (t-11th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.3 (26th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.7 (20th)
PP xGF/60: 5.72 (28th)
PK xGA/60: 10.12 (32nd)
5v5 PDO: 100.8
Previous Week: 29th (+7)

The Canadiens make the biggest jump of the week after three straight wins and doing a solid job of controlling play in the process. They had to deal with their second straight week with a suspension, as Juraj Slafkovsky was suspended for the hit on Wings Luff, but they did fine in the two games without Slafkovsky, beating the Canucks and the Penguins.

23. Ottawa Senators

Record: 5-8-1 (.393%, 27th)
5v5 Goal Differential: +1 (15th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.91 (6th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.9 (26th)
PP xGF/60: 6.95 (21st)
PK xGA/60: 7.35 (t-14th)
5v5 PDO: 100.6
Previous Week: 21st (-2)

The Senators actually should have climbed up a couple of spots this week, but the five point rule strikes again and drops them from 18th to 23rd because they sit six points behind the Habs. The Sens finally ended their seven game losing streak with a 4-1 win over the Flyers on Saturday, but it’s still not enough to pull them out of the basement yet. Perhaps Ryan Reynolds potentially becoming the owner will give the team some much needed popularity and swagger, if not now then certainly in the future.

24. Washington Capitals

Record: 7-8-2 (.471%, 23rd)
5v5 Goal Differential: +3 (13th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.33 (25th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.71 (21st)
PP xGF/60: 6.07 (25th)
PK xGA/60: 8.68 (24th)
5v5 PDO: 101.7
Previous Week: 23rd (-1)

The Caps continue to stay afloat in the early going, as they split their four games this week going 2-2, but they’re slowly starting to run out of real estate as we get further into the season. That “forward depth” they added last week in Nicolas Aube-Kubel is gone again for a little bit, as he was suspended for three games after a dirty hit against the Lightning.

25. Vancouver Canucks

Record: 4-9-3 (.344%, 30th)
5v5 Goal Differential: -3 (22nd)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.43 (23rd)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.83 (t-23rd)
PP xGF/60: 6.89 (22nd)
PK xGA/60: 7.22 (11th)
5v5 PDO: 100.2
Previous Week: 24th (-1)

As if the trainwreck that is the Canucks season couldn’t get any worse, president Jim Rutherford decided to throw coach Bruce Boudreau under the bus in some public comments earlier in the week. Their road trip out East didn’t do much to distract people from it, as after beating the Sens to start it off, the Canucks dropped three straight to the Habs, Leafs, and Bruins.

26. Chicago Blackhawks

Record: 6-5-3 (.536%, 18th)
5v5 Goal Differential: -5 (t-23rd)
5v5 xGF/60: 1.89 (31st)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.86 (25th)
PP xGF/60: 5.63 (29th)
PK xGA/60: 7.09 (10th)
5v5 PDO: 100.9
Previous Week: 27th (+1)

Chicago wasn’t too busy last week, just playing in two games and splitting them with a loss to the Kings and a win over the Ducks. They Hawks are still competing for a playoff spot for the time being, but as they lose more and more games, it’s harder to see that coming to fruition.

27. Nashville Predators

Record: 6-8-1 (.433%, t-25th)
5v5 Goal Differential: -5 (t-23rd)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.68 (14th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.63 (17th)
PP xGF/60: 5.94 (26th)
PK xGA/60: 10.01 (31st)
5v5 PDO: 98.9
Previous Week: 25th (-2)

The Preds continue to be all over the place in the early going this year, losing to the Kraken and the Avalanche to start the week before getting a tight 2-1 win over the Rangers on Saturday. Then again, this team needed its best players to have career years to barely make the playoffs last year, so this is probably where it should be anyways.

28. Philadelphia Flyers

Record: 7-6-2 (.533%, t-19th)
5v5 Goal Differential: 0 (t-16th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.2 (27th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.95 (28th)
PP xGF/60: 5.82 (27th)
PK xGA/60: 9.43 (28th)
5v5 PDO: 100.7
Previous Week: 26th (-2)

The Flyers continue to sink down week by week the closer they get to a losing record, as everything except for this team’s hot start has been ugly, and after a three-game losing streak, that hot start has more or less been nullified. If it’s any consolation, they’ve actually won the expected goals battle in all three games of this streak, the first time they have at all this season as well. Only took four weeks!

29. St. Louis Blues

Record: 5-8-0 (.385%, 28th)
5v5 Goal Differential: -13 (30th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.55 (22nd)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.77 (22nd)
PP xGF/60: 7.74 (17th)
PK xGA/60: 9.86 (30th)
5v5 PDO: 97.3
Previous Week: 28th (-1)

The Blues find themselves sitting in what is more or less the worst spot in the rankings aside from the three teams that appear to be a disaster this season. They’ve steadied the ship somewhat after ending their eight-game losing streak with two straight against the Sharks and Golden Knights, but the Blues have a lot of work to do to get back into contention.

30. Columbus Blue Jackets

Record: 4-9-1 (.321%, 31st)
5v5 Goal Differential: -18 (31st)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.17 (28th)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.99 (29th)
PP xGF/60: 7.75 (16th)
PK xGA/60: 9.21 (27th)
5v5 PDO: 96.9
Previous Week: 30th (0)

The Blue Jackets came back from Finland with a five-game losing streak, and luckily for them, they played an equally bad team in the Flyers to snap it. Columbus then lost to the Islanders a couple days later, so it’s still not much of an improvement, especially after finding out that defenseman Zach Werenski will be out for the rest of the season.

31. Arizona Coyotes

Record: 6-8-1 (.433%, t-25th)
5v5 Goal Differential: -21 (32nd)
5v5 xGF/60: 1.78 (32nd)
5v5 xGA/60: 2.91 (27th)
PP xGF/60: 5.45 (31st)
PK xGA/60: 7.78 (20th)
5v5 PDO: 96.4
Previous Week: 31st (0)

To the surprise of many, the Coyotes actually flirted with a playoff spot earlier last week after a three-game winning streak to start their next lengthy road trip. But, after losses to the Devils and the Rangers, the Yotes fell back a few spots, and really if not for these early wins, they’d probably be last on this list.

32. Anaheim Ducks

Record: 4-10-1 (.300%, 32nd)
5v5 Goal Differential: -10 (t-27th)
5v5 xGF/60: 2.13 (29th)
5v5 xGA/60: 3.43 (32nd)
PP xGF/60: 6.18 (24th)
PK xGA/60: 9.44 (29th)
5v5 PDO: 100.1
Previous Week: 32nd (0)

The Ducks hold down the worst spot in the rankings for the second week in a row, mostly because they didn’t have a lot of opportunities for improvement. They played just two games last week against Minnesota and Chicago and lost both, so it keeps them down here for another week while the Coyotes keep getting surprising wins.

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