Is the Metropolitan Division the most competitive in the NHL? After the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals picked it up while the New York Rangers stay surging, Adam Proteau thinks so.
Is the Metropolitan Division the most competitive in the NHL? After the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals picked it up while the New York Rangers stay surging, Adam Proteau thinks so.
There's no tighter division in the NHL right now than the Metropolitan Division.
At the beginning of this NHL season – and in the past couple of seasons – this writer has extolled the virtues of the Metro. While divisions like the Pacific Division have been the weakest in the league, the competition in the Metropolitan has consistently been the NHL’s best. And the way the season has turned out thus far has underscored the fact there’s no better group of teams than the one in the Metro.
As it stands, just three points separate dead last in the Metro from fourth place in the division, and only four points separate the eighth-seed Columbus Blue Jackets from the third-place Washington Capitals. And the heat already turned up in the division: the first-place New York Rangers are 9-0-1 in their past 10 games and 11-2-1 this season.
It’s a long year, and things can change quickly, but the Blueshirts were our pick to finish first in the Metro – and first in the entire NHL. Right now, with 23 points, the Rangers are the league’s third-best team – behind Boston (24) and Vegas (25).
Under first-year Rangers coach Peter Laviolette, the Rangers have been a solid team on offense, but it’s their defense that’s won them games. In seven of their 11 wins, they’ve allowed one goal or less, and in all 11 victories, they’ve allowed three goals or fewer.
Part of that is because of the performance of superstar goaltender Igor Shesterkin, with a 6-2-0 record, 2.36 goals-against average and .913 save percentage. But an injury to Shesterkin has kept him out of the lineup since Nov. 2, and backup Jonathan Quick has sparkled in Shesterkin’s place with a 4-0-1 record, 1.98 GAA, .928 SP and one shutout.
Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Penguins rebounded from a 3-6-0 start to the season and are on a four-game win streak in which they’ve outscored their opponents by a 20-5 margin. They have a pair of shutouts in that span, and star acquisition Erik Karlsson led the way in the past week, posting two goals and five points in three games.
In addition, the Penguins’ top line has been steady and stellar. Wingers Bryan Rust (12 points in 13 games) and Jake Guentzel (16 points in 13 games) and center Sidney Crosby (15 points in 13 games) give the team what they need, and second-liners Evgeni Malkin (16 points) and Reilly Smith (12 points) also have been well above-average.
With goalie Tristan Jarry (.920 SP, 2.23 GAA) rounding into top form and their key veterans coming through in the clutch, the Pens are now sixth in the Metro, just two points out of third place and four points out of second place.
The other team worth mentioning in the Metropolitan is the third-place Washington Capitals. Like the Penguins, the Caps have overcome an unimpressive 1-3-1 start to the year and have gone 6-1-1 since then. We didn’t like Washington’s chances at a playoff spot in our pre-season prognostications, but they’re winning without injured cornerstone component Nicklas Backstrom, and you have to give them credit for turning things around.
The Metro Division looks like it has some subpar teams in the Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers, but the teams we haven’t spotlighted – the Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders – also have the capability to go on notable win streaks. It all adds up to a division that is already the best division in the league, and we wouldn’t be at all surprised if five teams from the Metro wind up qualifying for the playoffs.
From the get-go and on paper from the start of the season, the Metro has shown it’s the NHL’s most dangerous division, and nothing we’ve seen since then gives us reason to change that prediction. They’ve got six teams with a legitimate shot at the post-season, and that number may go up if Columbus figures out how to correct their current course. That’s a competitive group of teams any way you cut it, and the heat is only going to rise in the Metro from here.
