Mar 12, 2018
The 7-Eleven Power Rankings: NHL-best Lightning the team to beat
With just four weeks to go until the start of the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, the league’s most consistent team all season long, the Tampa Bay Lightning, remains the team to beat.
With just four weeks to go until the start of the 2018 Stanley Cup playoffs, the league’s most consistent team all season long, the Tampa Bay Lightning, remains the team to beat.
Undefeated in regulation in their last 10 games, Tampa is the first team to reach 100 points in their season of NHL-bests: best overall record (48-17-4), most victories (48), most wins (40) by a goaltender (Andrei Vasilevskiy), top scorer (Nikita Kucherov) and the highest number of goals scored per game (3.58). The surging Bolts are also the best team this week in TSN’s 7-Eleven Power Rankings, according to consensus rankings formulated by the TSN Power Ranking panel of Ray Ferraro, Jeff O’Neill, Jamie McLennan, Craig Button and Darren Dreger. Tampa has been perched atop TSN’s power rankings more than any other team in 2017-18.
Just behind Tampa is the No. 2 Nashville Predators (last week’s top team), who had their 10-game win streak snapped by the New Jersey Devils in a shootout Saturday. The Predators, just two points back of the Lightning in the Presidents’ Trophy race with a game in hand, face one of their toughest tests of the season when they host Patrik Laine and the No. 4 Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday.
Rounding out the top five this week are the No. 3 Boston Bruins, who are riding a six-game home winning streak but lost the first game of their four-game road trip to the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday (they face the Lightning on Saturday), and the No. 5 Vegas Golden Knights, who set a record for most road wins by an NHL team in its first season on Saturday and are second in the Western Conference standings with 93 points.
The Minnesota Wild had a strong week, leaping to No. 7 in the rankings from No. 13 last week, while the No. 10 Washington Capitals fell four spots from a week ago.
Winnipeg is still the highest-ranked Canadian team, followed by the No. 6 Toronto Maple Leafs, who beat the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday to set a franchise record with their 10th straight home win, and the No. 19 Calgary Flames, who are just two points out of the final wild-card spot and welcomed Mike Smith back to the lineup on Sunday after a lower-body injury kept him out for a month.
The five worst teams in this week’s TSN power rankings include the No. 27 Montreal Canadiens, followed by the Detroit Red Wings, Vancouver Canucks (No. 29), Ottawa Senators and the bottom-feeding Buffalo Sabres. Is it finally time for an overhaul in the front office (the No. 21 Carolina Hurricanes may have started something by moving GM Ron Francis upstairs last week) or a change on the bench for any of these losing teams?
1. Tampa Bay Lightning
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2017-1848-17-4
-
LAST 109-0-1
-
POSSESSION51.4%
3. Boston Bruins
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2017-1843-16-8
-
LAST 107-3-0
-
POSSESSION54%
4. Winnipeg Jets
-
2017-1841-18-9
-
LAST 107-3-0
-
POSSESSION50.8%
5. Vegas Golden Knights
-
2017-1844-19-5
-
LAST 105-4-1
-
POSSESSION51.1%
6. Toronto Maple Leafs
-
2017-1840-22-7
-
LAST 105-3-2
-
POSSESSION49.4%
7. Minnesota Wild
-
2017-1839-23-7
-
LAST 107-3-0
-
POSSESSION47%
8. Florida Panthers
-
2017-1834-25-7
-
LAST 108-1-1
-
POSSESSION49.1%
9. Pittsburgh Penguins
-
2017-1840-26-4
-
LAST 106-4-0
-
POSSESSION51.9%
10. Washington Capitals
-
2017-1838-23-7
-
LAST 105-5-0
-
POSSESSION48.1%
11. Dallas Stars
-
2017-1838-25-6
-
LAST 104-4-2
-
POSSESSION51.5%
12. Philadelphia Flyers
-
2017-1835-23-11
-
LAST 105-4-1
-
POSSESSION49.6%
After earning points in 12 of 13 games in February, the Flyers have had a tough time in March, winning only once in six games (1-4-1). But they’re still in a playoff spot and Claude Giroux is fifth in scoring.
13. Anaheim Ducks
-
2017-1834-23-12
-
LAST 106-3-1
-
POSSESSION48.1%
14. San Jose Sharks
-
2017-1836-23-9
-
LAST 105-4-1
-
POSSESSION51%
15. Columbus Blue Jackets
-
2017-1836-28-5
-
LAST 107-3-0
-
POSSESSION51.8%
16. Los Angeles Kings
-
2017-1837-26-5
-
LAST 106-4-0
-
POSSESSION49.9%
17. New Jersey Devils
-
2017-1835-26-8
-
LAST 104-6-0
-
POSSESSION49.1%
18. Colorado Avalanche
-
2017-1836-24-8
-
LAST 105-1-4
-
POSSESSION47.6%
The Avs are on a seven-game point streak (4-0-3) to keep them in contention for a playoff spot. Since returning from his injury on Feb. 18, Nathan MacKinnon is 8-12-20 in 11 games – tops in the league.
19. Calgary Flames
-
2017-1834-26-10
-
LAST 104-5-1
-
POSSESSION53.2%
20. St. Louis Blues
-
2017-1836-27-5
-
LAST 102-6-2
-
POSSESSION51.1%
21. Carolina Hurricanes
-
2017-1830-27-11
-
LAST 103-5-2
-
POSSESSION54.1%
22. New York Islanders
-
2017-1830-29-10
-
LAST 102-4-4
-
POSSESSION47.4%
23. New York Rangers
-
2017-1830-32-7
-
LAST 103-5-2
-
POSSESSION46.1%
24. Arizona Coyotes
-
2017-18 RECORD22-35-11
-
LAST 106-3-1
-
POSSESSION48.4%
25. Chicago Blackhawks
-
2017-1830-32-8
-
LAST 105-5-0
-
POSSESSION52.9%
How is it going to get any worse for the Blackhawks? A 7-4 loss in Boston on Saturday ran their record in their last 10 on the road to 1-8-1, with an incredible 48 goals against in those games.
26. Edmonton Oilers
-
2017-1830-34-4
-
LAST 106-4-0
-
POSSESSION51.3%
Three wins in a row is meaningless in terms of the long-gone playoff race, but Connor McDavid is still in the race for the league’s top scorer. Since Feb. 1 he’s 18-12-30 in 19 games and in third (84 points).
27. Montreal Canadiens
-
2017-1825-31-12
-
LAST 103-2-5
-
POSSESSION51%
28. Detroit Red Wings
-
2017-1826-31-11
-
LAST 102-6-2
-
POSSESSION48.6%
29. Vancouver Canucks
-
2017-1825-35-9
-
LAST 102-5-3
-
POSSESSION47.6%
30. Ottawa Senators
-
2017-1823-33-11
-
LAST 102-6-2
-
POSSESSION47.4%
Ottawa’s point percentage of .425 is their worst since the first four seasons of the team’s existence. Even if they won all of their remaining 15 games, they’d still earn 11 fewer points than last season.
31. Buffalo Sabres
-
2017-1822-35-12
-
LAST 105-4-1
-
POSSESSION46.9%
You take the good news wherever you can find it if you’re a Buffalo Sabre. The Sabres beat arch-rival Toronto last week, and also posted their first shootout win of the season in a victory over Ottawa.