It's not quite the first week of the baseball season, when ERAs hover with the temperatures around the mid-80s, when batting averages are perfect and we extrapolate numbers just for fun. And because we try to keep perspective on our side after a week in the NHL, we'll resist the urge to do too much redecorating around here. Though at least one team earned itself quite a promotion after one sliver of a very long hockey season. We'll spare you of that suspense ...
| NHL Power Rankings |
|---|
| Rank |
LW |
|
Team |
| 1 |
7 |
 |
Los Angeles Kings
They were handed nothing by the schedule makers and after a week remained the only undefeated and untied team in the Western Conference. A showdown with Colorado looms Oct. 18. |
| 2 |
1 |
 |
Colorado Avalanche
After two games, no Colorado player has anything more than a single point ... and neither does the team. Now the Avalanche hit the road for early-season tests in L.A., San Jose and Anaheim. |
| 3 |
2 |
 |
Detroit Red Wings
Yet again, the Red Wings are running away with the Central Division. |
| 4 |
9 |
 |
Dallas Stars
In 1996, after a season in which they finished out of the playoffs, the Stars shot out of the gate with a similarly hot start. Few are shocked this time around, but when Marty Turco makes 40 saves against Colorado and Bill Guerin wins Player of the Week honors, fans in Big D have to be pleasantly surprised with the new regime. |
| 5 |
3 |
 |
Washington Capitals
Unblemished record after a pair allows us to relax after a nail-biting week at Power Rankings headquarters, where we spent every waking minute hoping Washington won its first two games. |
| 6 |
5 |
 |
Philadelphia Flyers
For a team with a new marquee coach and some positive energy to open the season, it can't be easy firing up the season in Alberta. (Unless maybe you're Alberta native Todd Fedoruk.) They return to the City of Brotherly Love for a pair at home this coming week against the divisional rival Isles and Caps. |
| 7 |
4 |
 |
San Jose Sharks
And on the seventh day, Evgeni Nabokov rested a scary thought in the lap of GM Dean Lombardi. The San Jose Mercury News reported that the team's 27-year-old, 37-win goaltender said he'd play hockey in Russia, possibly ending his Sharks tenure, if he wasn't signed. In a related story, Miikka Kiprusoff lost his first two starts and allowed 10 goals on 36 shots. |
| 8 |
11 |
 |
New Jersey Devils
All that talk of the little guys producing a faster team, capable of zipping all around the ice, and it looks like the same old Devils: Two low-scoring, one-goal wins out of the gate. |
| 9 |
6 |
 |
Ottawa Senators
We can't imagine it will go this poorly all season for Patrick Lalime, in Ottawa's otherwise respectable 2-1 loss to the Devils, he allowed both of those goals on six shots in the second period. |
| 10 |
12 |
 |
Vancouver Canucks
With Trevor Linden out, Vancouver could sure use the kind of contributions the Sedin boys added in Games 2 and 3 of the season: three assists apiece, and Daniel is a team-high plus-2. |
| 11 |
8 |
 |
New York Rangers
For those of you keeping score at home, a team with an older fella who gets by on a balky hip and a supporting cast of, say, two, scored six goals in a shutout of the Payrolls. The other shame of last week -- other than Eric Lindros' seated tomahawk chop -- is that Dan Blackburn loses opportunities and Mike Richter won’t get the odd night off for a while. |
| 12 |
10 |
 |
Phoenix Coyotes
Wayne Gretzky is toying with the idea of hiring Norm Abram to reconfigure the home rink's penalty box to allow for seating parties up to 10. |
| 13 |
15 |
 |
Edmonton Oilers
Georges Laraque was asked to play a more active role and in Game 1, scored to get Edmonton back into what would turn out to be a 2-2 tie vs. Philadelphia. He's now four goals away from tying his season total of a year ago. |
| 14 |
14 |
 |
Montreal Canadiens
This week's Lady Byng special racked up 18 minutes in penalties in the first week of play. The 18th-ranked team, Chicago, has more than twice that many. The Hurricanes lead the league with 119. |
| 15 |
13 |
 |
Calgary Flames
After three games Roman Turek has seen the most shots in the league, which isn't the worst thing, but allowing eight goals in the first two wasn't helping. With 23 saves on 25 shots Monday night, Turek nursed his save percentage back toward .900. |
| 16 |
16 |
 |
Boston Bruins
The Bruins want Sergei Samsonov to shoot more, which is easier said than done, but a no-brainer with a second left. That's when he pulled the trigger on the game-winner in Colorado. This after Boston opened the season with an embarrassing loss in Minnesota. |
| 17 |
23 |
 |
Buffalo Sabres
Owners of the best goal differential in the league ... 11 goals for, 5 goals against. Of course, on Oct. 15 this is nothing special. Though a five spot promotion has to be just a little special, doesn't it? |
| 18 |
19 |
 |
Toronto Maple Leafs
It all started so well, ripping into Pittsburgh 6-0. Then, in no particular order, Ed Belfour goes down with an infected thumb, they lose the Battle of Ontario, give up a late goal in a 5-4 loss to the Pens on Monday night, and have Tie Domi scoring power play goals. What next? Eight of their next 10 at home. |
| 19 |
24 |
 |
Minnesota Wild
Wild, wacky stuff. After Richard Park opened the scoring on opening night, former Bruins took the current Bruins to school. To wit: Wes Walz (58 games in Boston) made it 2-0, with an assist from Antti Laaksonen (37 games). Sergei Zholtok (25 games) then assisted on the third goal and made it 4-1 with a goal of his own in the second period. |
| 20 |
25 |
 |
Tampa Bay Lightning
No reason getting all worked up about wins over Florida and Carolina, perhaps. That is unless they score nine in the process and lead the Southeast Division after two games. |
| 21 |
30 |
 |
Pittsburgh Penguins
We mentioned in Week 1 to bet the over. What we didn't expect after three games is that Pittsburgh would be 2-1-0. Or that Aleksey Morozov would lead the NHL with eight points. |
| 22 |
21 |
 |
Chicago Blackhawks
A 3-0 win over the Sabres, no matter how hot those Sabes were coming in, doesn't erase the 2-1 loss to Columbus. |
| 23 |
17 |
 |
Carolina Hurricanes
Three games into the season and they had allowed a league-high dozen. This against a trio of opponents who averaged 27 wins last season. And, not that it could, but the schedule doesn't ease in the next week, either (hosting Washington Thursday, hosting New Jersey on Saturday). |
| 24 |
20 |
 |
New York Islanders
The nice thing about being ranked No. 20 in Week 1 is that dropping your first two games (against teams that combined to go three games above .500 last season) doesn't mean anything more than a few spot drop here. |
| 25 |
18 |
 |
St. Louis Blues
Norm Abram has also been hired to fashion something resembling an injury-adverse NHL goaltender. Reinhard Divis, we dub thee Marc Bulger. |
| 26 |
22 |
 |
Anaheim Mighty Ducks
Gotta love those gluttons. Mike Babcock, after a 4-2 loss in which one of his prized acquisitions scored an own goal during a delayed penalty, told reporters, "We want to play against the best teams." Yes, in fact you may have another. Next up? L.A., Vancouver and Colorado before a five-game roadtrip across the land. |
| 27 |
26 |
 |
Columbus Blue Jackets
We'd like to send a special shoutout to the Columbus Dispatch ... for locking those of us with our heads in the sand -- aka, those of us who have made it to this point in our lives without a subscription to the print edition -- from the meat of the newspaper's on-line editions. Due to budgetary belt-tightening of our own, we're passing the hat for donations to sign up for the Dispatch monthly fee. We'd like to see if Rick Nash can continue his goal-scoring streak. What's that? Oh, it's already over. He also missed two periods of Monday's loss to Phoenix with a cut near his eye. That according to, you guessed it, The Associated Press. |
| 28 |
28 |
 |
Florida Panthers
In the care of Mike Keenan, a team will work hard. In the case of the Panthers, this means going to OT in each of their first two games. Quote of the week comes from Olli Jokinen, who picked up five points and scored the game-winner Saturday night: "It's been a very good start to the season, two points already. I usually get my first goal around Christmas." |
| 29 |
29 |
 |
Atlanta Thrashers
After one week of hockey, two handfuls of NHL teams had lost more games than Atlanta's one. |
| 30 |
27 |
 |
Nashville Predators
After two games David Legwand was on pace to score 82 goals, which would be 43 more than he's scored in his entire NHL career (218 games) and quite a feat in its own right. |
| |
