Luongo lifts Canucks to perfect week, spot in top 10

Note: All statistics are through Sunday.

BIGGEST CLIMB: Vancouver (16 to 10)
BIGGEST FALL: New York Islanders (12 to 20)

NHL Power Rankings Rank LW Team 1 1 Buffalo Sabres (30-9-3) What happened last week? The top squad in the East was outscored 10-5 in back-to-back losses to Ottawa and Pittsburgh. During the slide, the penalty-kill unit gave up five goals. Buffalo at least managed to avoid its first three-game slide. "We're not use to losing," Daniel Briere said. "Two games for us felt like a long time. Now we'll be able to relax and get back to the same game plan." It'll help to face three relative softies this week: Chicago, Toronto and Tampa Bay. Last Week: 2-2-0 2 2 Anaheim Ducks (29-9-6) What is it with the NHL's top teams struggling? If not for a huge win over the Red Wings on Sunday -- which snapped a season-long four-game losing streak -- last week would've been a train wreck. The low point was Friday's 4-3 loss to the Blue Jackets in which Anaheim squandered a 3-0 third-period lead. "To have a 3-0 lead in our own building and do that, it's embarrassing," Teemu Selanne said. "There's no way we should lose like that." Last Week: 1-2-0 3 3 Nashville Predators (28-11-3) Make it 21 straight starts for super-sub Chris Mason, who turned away 35 shots in Saturday's win -- the Preds' 13th straight over St. Louis. The bevy of shots was nothing new for the 30-year-old netminder, who has faced at least 30 in eight straight games. If there's one area Nashville must improve, it's allowing shots on goal (ranked fifth at 32.4 per game). It also wouldn't hurt to shoot more. The Preds rank 26th (27.9). Last Week: 2-1-0 4 6 San Jose Sharks (28-14-0) He doesn't get as much attention as Joe Thornton, but Patrick Marleau is very quietly having a solid season. The 27-year-old winger, who has three goals and 10 points in his last three games, became the Sharks' career scoring leader with a four-point performance on Thursday. The Sharks, meanwhile, have been stomping opponents during a three-game winning streak -- outscoring Dallas, Detroit and Columbus by a combined score of 18-8. Last Week: 2-0-0 5 9 New Jersey Devils (25-13-4) Smoke us once, shame on you. Smoke us twice, shame on us. After getting hammered 8-1 by the Senators on Oct. 21 at Scottiabank Place, the Devils got revenge on Saturday with a 4-2 win in Ottawa. "We thought about it," Martin Brodeur said. "You try to step up your game when one of those happens. Revenge was definitely on our minds. We beat them in New Jersey, but it was in this building that we wanted to beat them. We didn't embarrass them, but we won." Last Week: 3-0-1 6 4 Detroit Red Wings (25-12-5) Dominik Hasek should permanently put Jan. 4, 2007 out of his memory bank. The two-time MVP was torched for eight goals in a 9-4 loss to the Sharks. It was the first time since March 15, 2000 that he had allowed more than five in a game. Hasek thinks the last time he had a game like that was in the Czech league in the mid-1990s. "It's almost funny," he said. "I thought seven was enough, and then I made a save, and the next shot was a goal." Last Week: 1-3-0 7 5 Atlanta Thrashers (24-12-8) Take that, Ottawa. Playing against his former team, Marian Hossa notched three assists to help the Thrashers earn a 3-2 win and snap the Sens' four-game win streak. But that was the lone highlight last week for Atlanta. In Tuesday's 5-1 loss to the Wild, the Thrashers' top three scorers -- Hossa, Ilya Kovalchuk and Vyacheslav Kozlov -- combined for just one shot. The trio has 62 of the team's 127 goals. Last Week: 1-1-2 8 7 Dallas Stars (26-16-1) The ugly stretch is over: 10 games in 18 days in eight different cities. Despite playing without Mike Modano, the Stars got through in decent shape (5-4-1). It's good this injury-riddled club only plays five games in the next 18 days. After an 11-2-0 start, Dallas is 13-14-1 and hasn't put more than three consecutive wins together. In fact, its last such streak was at the beginning of December. But this team will be dangerous when it gets healthy. Last Week: 1-1-1 9 8 Montreal Canadiens (23-14-5) Is there a doctor -- or a few -- in the house? When a stomach bug hit the Habs last Thursday, coach Guy Carbonneau was forced to use nearly 20 line combinations on Sunday. "This type of thing can happen to three or four guys, but the entire room has been hit. It's pretty hard to believe," he said. The lack of healthy bodies has resulted in Montreal dropping three consecutive games for the first time this season. Last Week: 1-3-0 10 16 Vancouver Canucks (24-18-1) Some free advice for any team playing the Canucks in the near future: beware. Behind the ultra-strong play of Roberto Luongo, who on Sunday edged his former team (Panthers), Vancouver has rolled off a season-high seven-game win streak. If that's not good enough for you skeptics, Markus Naslund finally snapped a 17-game scoring drought -- the longest of his career since he went 18 in a row during the 1996-97 season. Last Week: 4-0-0

Read on for teams 11-20 ...