NHL Power Rankings: Oilers And Rangers Rapidly Rising After Star-Powered Scoring Surge

Tuesday's Frozen Frenzy was the unofficial holiday of the NHL with all 32 teams in action. It just doesn't happen very often; we won't see this again until the last day of the regular season on April 10. 

We've also now gotten enough a good look at every team, though expect plenty of movement until things start to settle down a little bit. Whether it's due to the short pre-season or not, there have been some truly chaotic games. 

There have been some big surprises, including the Rangers and Jets, and also some major disappointments, such as the Flyers with their historically poor start.

Here’s this week's power rankings.

Very few teams in the league can beat the Golden Knights when they have a healthy roster. Mark Stone and William Karlsson have played in all eight games, and Adin Hill has bounced back to form a formidable tandem with Carter Hart.

Nathan MacKinnon has been an absolute menace, on pace for 168 points and 25 fighting majors this season. No player in NHL history has led the team in points and penalty minutes. The closest was Keith Tkachuk in 1996-97 when he led the league with 52 goals and finished 10th with 228 PIM. 

It's been a pretty easy schedule so far – they've faced the Flyers twice – but the Hurricanes have bounced back from a poor start to win six in a row. An upcoming five-game road trip without captain Jordan Staal will be a much tougher test.

The Mammoth continue to be very impressive, but their games have been a little wild; they either score a lot or get scored on a lot, and nearly blew a three-goal lead Tuesday against the Maple Leafs.

The only team without a regulation loss this season, Devon Levi is also 4-0-0 and brought a sense of calm and hope at a position that has torpedoed the Oilers too many times in the past.

With the way Dylan Garand has been playing (3-1-0, .951 SP, 1.15 GAA) , the Rangers won’t be needing to acquire another goalie or coax Jonathan Quick out of retirement. 

A top-heavy lineup? Not really. Only two regular forwards have yet to score a goal for the Lightning this season: Jeff Viel, who makes a living throwing fists, and Gage Goncalves, who has just three shots this season but also been one of their better even-strength players this season. 

Despite playing five of their seven games on the road, the Wild have actually made out quite well, with two one-goal losses and the only blowout loss coming with Cal Pickard in net. 

Linus Ullmark has been perfect so far this season going 5-0-0 with a .948 SP and 1.27 GAA, numbers he hasn’t posted since his Vezina-winning season. Also, maybe they should’ve kept Leevi Merilainen instead of trading for Samuel Ersson?

Fraser Minten has scored seven points and four others have scored at least five, finally giving David Pastrnak some help. That Brandon Carlo trade keeps looking better and better.

Not a good first stretch with three losses and 17 goals allowed, and both of their recent wins came via shootout thanks to Zach Bolduc. The jury’s still out but the Canadiens look a little shaky for a team many believed would be a Cup contender this season. 

A mixed bag of results but they've become a well-rounded group up front and on the blue line. The big area of concern is goaltending, where Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Colten Ellis have combined for a .855 SP. When is the annual Alex Lyon hot streak coming and will they trade for Connor Hellebuyck?

Figures the Panthers would respond when instigated. After drawing a lot of criticism for their slow start, Brady Tkachuk scored a hat trick, Matthew Tkachuk had five assists and Sam Reinhart added two goals against the Jackets. 

Ville Husso beat the Flames but Lukas Dostal couldn't. Sometimes hockey doesn't make sense. 

Undoubtedly one of the biggest surprises of the season, including wins against the Avs and Wild. Cole Perfetti has five goals in six games and finally getting some ice time, averaging a career-high 18:38 TOI/GP. 

The Kraken have suddenly become an offensive powerhouse, ranking third in goals for per game and doing it by committee. All 12 of their forwards have scored at least once with Freddy Gaudreau (!), whose career high was 19 goals, leading the way. 

Back-to-back shutout wins against the Sharks and Sabres, aside, the Stars’ issue is they can’t score. They generated just three (!) shots in the third period Tuesday against the Avs when they were down 3-1, and per naturalstattrick.com rank 20th in expected goals at 5-on-5. 

Here’s a crazy thought: What if the Capitals took Alex Ovechkin off the top power-play unit? Dating back to last season, no forward has played more total power-play minutes per game than Ovechkin, but he ranks 108th in power-play goals (5) in that span.

But how do you break it to the greatest goal-scorer of all time that he, um, can’t score any goals right now and the team ought to try something new?

With alternating wins, the Isles need to be far more consistent and, hopefully, Mathew Barzal’s return will help with that. Side note: Semyon Varlamov’s return is one of the season’s best stories and is certainly Masterton Trophy-worthy.

They shouldn’t need overtime to beat the Flyers and Red Wings, and they’ve been one of the more disappointing teams so far. The goaltending has been a weakness with a .865 SP, to the surprise of absolutely no one. 

Only one game – a 6-3 win against the Avalanche – has been decided by more than one goal, and it’s already been far more fun to watch them this season with a healthy Auston Matthews. 

In short, they’re not getting enough saves from Yaroslav Askarov (.848 SP). Per naturalstattrick.com, the Sharks have the league’s worst save percentage (.845) at 5-on-5.

Finally, the Blues have woken up and starting singing on offense, scoring 12 goals in their past two games. The new ‘McDouble’ line with Mason McTavish and Connor McMichael is a strong candidate for best new nickname. 

After starting 2-0-0, the Pens are 1-3-1 with their lone win coming via shootout and having trouble scoring goals. Their tough road trip continues with stops in Colorado, Vegas, and Utah; they’ll be lucky to get two points. 

Rick Bowness post-game comments after a blowout loss is now must-watch TV. 

Mediocre starts to the season have become a thing under Andrew Brunette. First they blow a 3-0 lead and lose to the Maple Leafs in overtime, then the Knights clearly outclass them in a 5-2 win. 

The best magic trick the Red Wings have done this season is somehow convincing Alex DeBrincat to re-sign for seven more years when the team lacks a clear blueprint. 

The Blackhawks are on pace to go 78-0-0 with Connor Bedard in the lineup.

The Flames played well but they also needed Luke Dostal to allow a bad goal to earn their first win of the season but, hey, they’ll take it if that’s what it takes. 

After a 2-1-0 start the Canucks have lost five straight and could finish their six-game road trip without earning a single point. Things were fun while it lasted. 

After scoring eight goals in the first two games, maybe the Kings can score. But then they score only once in each of their next three games, and we remember again the Kings are old and slow. 

The track record of coaches keeping their job after the team and its players has to publicly defend his job security isn’t good. The Flyers need to get something going or something drastic is going to happen. 

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