Star power

By Jamie MacDonald, SI.com

Here we are, catching our breath after 1,230 NHL games, staring down the runway before taking off again and vaulting into the two-month Tsukahara that is the Stanley Cup playoffs. Or something like that.

While 14 teams have officially closed for business, 16 more will play at least another four games. Us? Well, we're just going to try to stick the landing one last time in this, the season’s final edition of the Power Rankings.

NHL Power Rankings
Rank	LW		Team
1	3		Dallas Stars The NHL's playoff alley is littered with goaltenders who've sparkled in the regular season and spoiled in the playoffs. In the world according to us, this is not the fate of Marty Turco.
2	2		Ottawa Senators We're not saying they'll represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup finals -- we'd bet on their bowing out in the Conference finals -- but the fact Ottawa led the league in points, goal differential and wins per game should not be overlooked.
3	1		Detroit Red Wings And you thought Detroit had left behind its bugaboo, also known as the forgotten lead, upon Steve Yzerman's return. Well, these Wings sure did remind everyone on the final day of the season when, in the wake of a 5-5 tie with Columbus, they chunked a first-period 2-0 advantage against Chicago and fettered away their shot at the Western Conference's No. 1 seed.
4	4		New Jersey Devils After 82 games, the Devils and Flyers ended up sharing the Jennings Trophy (both teams allowed a league-low 166 goals). One more win, five more goals scored, and a better goaltender give New Jersey the edge for these purposes. An aside, though, for offended fans of Roman Cechmanek … Depending on the first-round winners, the Devils and Flyers could go another few rounds in an extended battle of the Atlantic Division, where Brodeur and Cechmanek could square off in a stingy affair. First goal wins?
5	6		Colorado Avalanche This season's early Soap Opera Awards candidate for Team Turmoil turned everything around at about the time Pierre Lacroix promoted Tony Granato. Strange, had the firing of Bob Hartley taken place a whole lot earlier, Bryan Trottier might be looking like a genius today. Either way, any genius could see that the Avalanche need more scoring support.
6	7		Philadelphia Flyers Hard by I-95, nearly in the shadows of a monstrous football stadium, a Flyers' billboard reads, "Control the puck … heck, control the game." In Game Nos. 78-82, that's precisely what the Flyers did, erasing any doubt they could put the puck in the net (adding John LeClair and Tony Amonte didn't hurt), en route to outscoring opponents 23-4.
7	5		Vancouver Canucks In a dream we had the other day, one that for some reason included a character of French-Canadian descent, we heard this in reference to the Canucks: They score so many goal. As they showed in the first round last year and at the end of this regular season, however, closing is a matter with which they could use some reacquainting. If the team asks, we'll suggest guest speaker Blake, as played by Alec Baldwin, from Glengarry Glen Ross.
8	9		Minnesota Wild On Sunday morning, when they were likely to face the Canucks in the first round, many saw them pulling the upset. Against the Red Wings? We see a first-round exit leaving the Wild upset after their credibility building campaign.
9	8		St. Louis Blues Considering the injuries that have beset the Blues all season long, that they're still solidly in the top 10 is a feat worthy of praise. We're just afraid that the two wins they generated in their final nine regular season games are more indicative of their future. We'll be the first to scrap this theory when or if the Canucks happen to crumble before St. Louis does in the first round.
10	11		Toronto Maple Leafs Should it come to this, as it typically does in the playoffs, the Leafs went 6-2-3-2 in one-goal games during the final month of the regular season.
11	10		Anaheim Mighty Ducks Lest we forget that on Jan. 8 the Ducks were 15-16-7-3 and, without a regime change, ended up wining 40 games, thanks in large part to J.S. Giguere's emergence. Thanks in large part to their first-round opponent, their setting many more franchise records is unlikely.
12	13		Tampa Bay Lightning Even down the stretch the Lightning could be confounding. Undefeated for nearly a month, they failed to score more than two goals in nine of their final 15 games. Player of the month Nikolai Khabibulin can win some of those games, but not all.
13	14		Washington Capitals Imagine, Caps, how much easier life would be if only you could avoid playing such middling hockey during the first three months of the season.
14	12		Edmonton Oilers We're as sad to admit this as anyone, because we'll be hoping to catch O Canada before as many opening faceoffs as possible, but this is likely the first Canadian team to be shown the door.
15	15		Boston Bruins A fantastic start, a terrible middle and a mediocre end fueled what can be a fantastic, terrible and mediocre team into the playoffs. Sergei Samsonov's return is almost a wash when one considers that none of the four goaltenders had been named Game 1 starter 24 hours before the puck dropped.
16	16		New York Islanders The fact that Alexei Yashin, largely absent throughout the year, shined brightest in the midst of his team's efforts to pass their playoff position to the Rangers, a team that would have none of that generosity, is unsettling. The fact that Michael Peca hasn't yet been low-bridged in the playoffs, is news of a different sort for the fans of playoff hockey.
17	22		Chicago Blackhawks While you were falling asleep on the bottom half of the league standings, assuming with good reason the Blackhawks were nodding off, too, Chicago closed out its regular season with an encouraging 3-0-2-1 streak, including the season-ending, Presidents' Trophy blocking victory over Detroit.
18	20		Atlanta Thrashers The four- and five-goal losses are less likely under Bob Hartley and in front of Pasi Nurminen. Either way, the chaos that once paraded as a defensive scheme seems to have calmed while the team turned a 9-21-1-4 record around with a 22-18-6-1 mark since Dec. 28.
19	17		New York Rangers An open letter to Rangers fans: Let's see who can wait the longest to boo the home team next season.
20	21		Los Angeles Kings The league has declared that their injuries qualify the Kings to redshirt this season.
21	25		Calgary Flames If there were at-large bids, the Flames would be a classic bubble team, complete with good wins (Stars, 2-1) and bad losses (Blue Jackets, 6-4) fresh in our minds. Plus, they were one of only three teams among the bottom 16 in the final standings to have won more than four of their last 10 regular season games.
22	18		Montreal Canadiens Much will, of course, be made of Carolina's demise, but the Canadiens should receive more than a handful of votes for Most Discouraging Performance, Encore Ensemble Cast.
23	23		Buffalo Sabres Needed an even higher-powered lens to see the playoff race than the Coyotes, which makes their lean at the tape that much more interesting. With the exception of a messy first period and resulting 8-5 loss in Boston, and 3-0 losses in Manhattan and Dallas, the Sabres were 6-0-1-1 over their final 11, with wins over Philadelphia, Toronto and Colorado.
24	19		Phoenix Coyotes They weren't ever truly in a playoff race, but for a time they did play as if a spot was on the line. The time to which we are referring does not include the team's final nine games (outscored 32-16 in 1-5-2-1).
25	26		San Jose Sharks Never too early to start dreaming of an A's-Giants World Series.
26	24		Nashville Predators When the NHL's schedule turned down the stretch, the wheels on a playoff push wobbled for a couple games and then blew off in spectacular fashion.
27	27		Florida Panthers If only winning draft lotteries translated to winning games.
28	28		Columbus Blue Jackets Lost the most games in the Western Conference, lost at least eight more road games than any team in the conference, allowed nearly 100 more goals than did the Stars. This is the kind of thing that happens when you send your No. 1 goaltender out to face a league-high 2,404 shots (almost 400 more than any other goalie) in a league-high 77 games. What an admirable performance out of Marc Denis.
29	29		Pittsburgh Penguins Proved on March 26 with a 3-1 win in Manhattan when the Rangers were desperate -- by every measure of that word's definition -- for a win, that David can beat Goliath. Unfortunately, David also lost a league-high 44 games.
30	30		Carolina Hurricanes Set home attendance record. Using anything more descriptive would have resulted in our finishing on a sour note, and we don't like going to bed angry.

 

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