Rangers knock Bruins off top spot in Power Rankings; Jets surge

By Sportlogiq Staff (@Sportlogiq)

With the end of the All-Star break, we've officially hit the second half of the NHL season. Both New York teams have made early moves to address their needs as the hunt for the playoffs continues and we creep closer to the trade deadline.

The big movers this week are the Rangers, who take over the top spot, and the Winnipeg Jets, who jump into the top six.

With only one game this week for the Jets, a 4-1 win over Chicago, they move up five spots in the power rankings and are just three points out of first place in their division with a game in hand on the Stars.

The Edmonton Oilers drop out of the top five this week after a 6-4 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, a game that saw Connor McDavid's 15-game point streak come to an end. McDavid is now three points shy of hitting the 100-point mark for the sixth time in his career. The Oilers have a tough slate of games coming up, with a weekend that sees them taking on the Rangers and the Colorado Avalanche. A couple of wins there could see them move back up into the top five.

A split in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ doubleheader against the Columbus Blue Jackets knocks them out of the top three and down into the 10th spot. With three games this week coming against non-playoff teams, the Leafs could jump right back into the top five as they continue to be one of only four teams to rank in the top six in goal differential, expected goal differential, and points percentage.

Having been on the road since their return from the All-Star break, the Calgary Flames lost their first two games but bounced back in a big way with a 7-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. Dillon Dube led the team with a career-high four-point game, including a goal off a beautiful passing play by Tyler Toffoli and Elias Lindholm. The Flames are tied with the Minnesota Wild for the final wild-card spot in the West but with an extra game played.

The Ottawa Senators have only played a single game this month, a 6-3 loss to the Oilers. The Senators have a chance to get on a roll as only three of their next 15 games are against teams that currently occupy a playoff spot. With goalies Cam Talbot and Anton Forsberg on the shelf, they'll look to Mads Sogaard to shoulder the load despite him only having 122:41 of NHL playing time in his career.

The All-Star break seems to have done wonders for the Montreal Canadiens. In back-to-back nights they knocked off the New York Islanders and Oilers, helping them move up from 31st to 27th in the power rankings. With six goals in nine games, Rafaël Harvey-Pinard is doing everything he can to prove he deserves a permanent spot on the NHL roster.

With a record of 1-2-1 since the All-Star break, the Vancouver Canucks fall to 29th in the power rankings and last among the Canadian teams. One of the pieces acquired in the Bo Horvat trade, Anthony Beauvillier, has three points in his first four games with his new team and will get a chance to play in front of the home crowd as they return home for the first time since the All-Star break tonight.