Wings back on top
The Hockey News
It's Week 2 of THN.com’s Power Rankings – and is wont to happen at the start of the season, we've got ourselves a new No. 1 team.
That would be the familiarly powerful Detroit Red Wings, who have yet to lose (4-0-0) in games against the Senators, Avalanche, Canucks and Wild. How are the Wings doing it? By getting balanced scoring – 10 different players have scored at least one goal – and by Jimmy Howard (1.63 GAA, .930 SP) providing more than adequate goaltending. Detroit has a light schedule this week, with five days off before taking on the slumping Blue Jackets Friday and then facing arguably their toughest opponent so far in a road game against the Capitals on Saturday.
Here is our ranking of the 30 NHL teams thus far. Be sure to check back every Monday for the newest list.
RK. | TEAM | LW | OVERALL | THE SCOOP |
1 | 2 | 4-0-0 | Another year, another spotless start for the NHL's model franchise | |
2 | 6 | 4-0-0 | Caps face big tests this week: Flyers Thursday, Wings Saturday | |
3 | 1 | 3-0-1 | Star of Giroux (three goals, five points) continuing to ascend | |
4 | 3 | 3-1-2 | Crosby close to returning, but Malkin's absence concerning | |
5 | 4 | 3-1-0 | Luke Adam (three goals, six points) making very early case for Calder consideration | |
6 | 5 | 2-2-1 | Sedins with identical statistics (two goals, five points, four PIMs, one power play goal)? Shocking | |
7 | 12 | 3-1-0 | Jonas Hiller (1.71 goals-against average, .931 save percentage) looks fully recovered | |
8 | 9 | 2-1-1 | Jack Johnson (24:27) carrying the mail on Kings blueline | |
9 | 7 | 2-1-1 | Patrick Kane has twice as many assists (4) as goals | |
10 | 18 | 3-1-0 | Wins over Canes, Kings, Preds a huge confidence-boost; Zach Parise showing what Devils missed so badly in his absence last season | |
11 | 17 | 4-1-0 | Surprising Stars lean on Lehtonen, physical play; they lead league in hits (155) | |
12 | 24 | 4-1-0 | Hot Avs face equally hot Leafs Monday before home-and-home series against Hawks | |
13 | 13 | 3-0-0 | Acquisition of David Steckel a big reason Leafs tied with San Jose for league's second-best faceoff win percentage (56.8) | |
14 | 22 | 3-1-0 | Has anyone seen John Tavares and Superman in the same room together? Hmmnn... | |
15 | 14 | 2-3-0 | Four-game home stretch begins Tuesday; four-day break begins after Saturday's game against San Jose | |
16 | 8 | 1-2-0 | Sharks suffered power outage with just two goals total in losses to Anaheim and St. Louis last week | |
17 | 11 | 2-1-1 | Western Canadian swing takes Preds to Edmonton, Vancouver and Calgary this week | |
18 | 10 | 1-2-2 | Dwayne Roloson looking rough; injured Mattias Ohlund a big loss | |
19 | 25 | 2-2-1 | Sluggish start doesn't hurt as badly after beating Sabres, Bruins last week | |
20 | 15 | 2-3-0 | Return of Andy McDonald's concussion woes is news Blues don't need | |
21 | 16 | 1-2-1 | Injury bug already dining out on Habs' roster | |
22 | 19 | 2-1-0 | Panthers' six goals scored by six different players | |
23 | 21 | 2-1-2 | Dany Heatley, Devin Setoguchi have combined for three goals and five points, but Matt Cullen and Guillaume Latendresse have combined for three goals and seven points | |
24 | 29 | 2-1-1 | Home games vs. Hawks, Kings this week will give better indication of what Yotes have to offer | |
25 | 20 | 1-1-1 | Ryan Smyth has just four shots (and one goal) in three games; Cam Barker (five) has more | |
26 | 23 | 0-1-2 | Blueshirts have scored only five goals in three games | |
27 | 27 | 1-3-0 | Flames supposed to be a solid defensive team, but 11-goals-for and 14-goals-against calls that into question | |
28 | 26 | 0-4-1 | Steve Mason's netminding numbers - 3.40 GAA, .889 SP - simply unacceptable | |
29 | 28 | 0-3-0 | When Jim Slater is your scoring leader, things aren't going as planned | |
30 | 30 | 1-4-0 | Sens have two reasonable chances for wins this week with games against Jets, Jackets |
The Hockey News ranks the teams 1-30 each Monday based on a combination of last week’s play and a squad’s overall outlook.
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