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NHL Power Rankings Week 2: Washington Is Alone at the Top

Power rankings are back! With a new season comes new rankings, but the same formula. If you recall from last year, the formula looks at non-shootout win point totals per game, and multiplies that by five-on-five goal ratio. The numbers end up between 0 and 2 normally, but in the early season, those numbers are highly volatile.

This week, the biggest movers were Washington, Los Angeles, and San Jose while New Jersey, Anaheim, and Montreal fell the farthest.

In any event, here we go:

 

Eastern Conference

This Week Last Week Rationale
Rating
Capitals_medium 1 4 The Capitals remain the only undefeated team in the NHL after stomping on Detroit, 7-1.
4.123
Sabres_medium 2 3 Buffalo continues to dominate at 5-on-5, thanks to Tomas Vanek having 6 goals in 7 games.
2.500
Maple_leafs_medium 3 2 The Maple Leafs are hanging tough, winning five of their first seven games. Phil Kessel has 8 goals in 7 games.
1.643
Flyers_medium 4
1
Philadelphia stumbled last week, falling to St. Louis and Washington. Facing Montreal, Winnipeg, and Carolina this week could help.
1.389
Rangers_medium 5
7
The Rangers spent last week in Western Canada and went 1-1-1. By Saturday, they'll play 6 straight games against Canadian teams.
1.330
Lightning_medium 6
10
Tampa Bay moves up after beating Buffalo and the Islanders and improving their five-on-five ratio.
1.180
Penguins_medium 7
9
The Penguins are losing the five-on-five battle but James Neal is currently carrying the Penguins with 8 goals in ten games.
1.157
Hurricanes_medium 8
13
Carolina is giving up over 3.3 goals per game, contributing to their poor 5-on-5 ratio.
0.820
Islanders_medium 9
5
The Islanders fell this week after losing big on their trip to Tampa Bay and Florida. A home and home with Pittsburgh lies ahead.
0.730
Panthers_medium 10
12
Florida got shutout in back-to-back games, but moved up after beating the slumping Islanders.
0.640
Canadiens_medium 11
6
The Canadiens have only one win on the year despite a positive 5-on-5 ratio.
0.617
Bruins_medium 12
11
Boston is struggling on the power play, only converting on 12.9% of opportunities.
0.581
Jets_medium 13
15
The Jets are starting to collect points, beating Pittsburgh and Carolina while also taking Toronto to a shootout. Still need to improve at 5-on-5.
0.536
Devils_medium 14 8 New Jersey plummets this week after seeing their 5-on-5 ratio drop to 0.50.
0.417
Senators_medium
15 14 The Senators have the worst 5-on-5 ratio in the League and have only killed 69.2% of penalties. They have problems.
0.300

 

Western Conference


This Week Last Week Rationale
Rating
Kings_medium 1 9 The Kings have three straight shutouts and the second best 5-on-5 ratio in the league.
2.876
Red_wings_medium 2 1 Detroit lost to Washington 7-1, but is still one of the best teams in the NHL.
2.217
Stars_medium 3
5
The Stars have a high 5-on-5 ratio and five regulation wins, putting them near the top of the West.
1.980
Blackhawks_medium 4
2
Chicago is scoring nearly 3.5 goals per game, and went 2-0-1 last week. They still fell two spots.
1.871
Sharks_medium 5
11
The Sharks made a big jump this week despite going just 1-1-1.
1.150
Blues_medium 6
6
St. Louis stayed in place by beating the Flyers and needing overtime to beat the Hurricanes.
1.140
Canucks_medium 7
7
The Canucks followed up a 4-0 loss to the Rangers with a 5-1 win over the Predators. They're still at a negative 5-on-5 ratio though.
1.046
Coyotes_medium 8
4
Phoenix fell due to being outscored by four goals in three games last week.
1.000
Avalanche_medium 9
8
The Avalanche went to overtime for both their wins last week, leaving them with 3 regulation wins in 8 tries this year.
0.979
Wild_medium 10
10
Minnesota only has one regulation win in eight games but still has an even 5-on-5 ratio.
0.875
Ducks_medium 11
3
The Ducks are the biggest loser this week, with their 5-on-5 goal differential going from 5th best in the West to 11th best.
0.860
Oilers_medium
12
13
Edmonton has the second lowest goals against per game in the NHL. But they have the lowest goals for per game. Definitely strange.
0.860
Predators_medium 13
12
The Predators are struggling so far, only scoring four goals in three games last week. It was still enough to beat Calgary.
0.750
Flames_medium 14
14
Calgary only has two regulation wins this year in seven tries, but there are six Eastern Conference teams below them according to the formula.
0.657
Blue_jackets_medium 15 15 The Blue Jackets have yet to win a game this year, but their 5-on-5 play is better than six NHL teams. They'll win eventually.
0.101