NHL Power Rankings, and Moulson's 30-30-30 Club

Since we're going with the story that the first goal last night did not touch John Tavares, that means he and Matt Moulson each hit 30 goals last night. As Eric Hornick's Skinny explains: "Tavares is the youngest Islander since Pat Lafontaine to score 30 goals in a season."

Also from Hornick: "Moulson is the first Islander since Ziggy Palffy (1995-96 to 1997-98) to have at least three consecutive 30-goal seasons. Only four players in Islanders history have had more 30-goal seasons: Trottier (11), Bossy (10), Gillies (6), LaFontaine (6)."

Furthermore: Prior to last season (Moulson and Michael Grabner), "the Isles had not had two 30-goal scorers since 2001-02 (Alexei Yashin & Mark Parrish). It’s the first time since 1992-93 and 1993-94 that the Isles have had multiple 30-goal scorers in consecutive seasons (4 in both 92-93 and 93-94)."

Amid the pain of the last three fall-from-ahead losses, those milestones are worth noting. Sidney Crosby, Jeff Carter, Ilya Kovalchuk, Alex Ovechkin, Rick Nash, Phil Kessel, Bobby Ryan and Corey Perry are some of the guys to reach 30 in three consecutive seasons since the lockout. Suppose Tavares joins them?

Now on to our weekly power rankings and media rankings survey. The last week has the Islanders dipping a bit -- though in the same range they've been in all season long. As you'll see if you click on these links, as well as in our Power Rankings table at the bottom, there is a new leader. Nice.

Survey of Media Power Rankings

Here is the weekly roundup of media rankings and commentary.

Twenty-fourth here, twenty-fifth there, it's been that kind of year five years.

For reference, here is last week's power rankings post.

Real Power Rankings

And now on to our weekly "real" power rankings courtesy of Mike, or ICanSeeForIslesAndIsles (who is the one you'll find tirelessly compiling FIG picks in the game thread), who conceived and delivers these week after week. They are calculated in true "power ranking" fashion -- i.e. how well teams fare based on their opponents' records.

It seems different teams take turns jumping above and falling below the Islanders in our power rankings. This week Toronto is the one fast heading toward the bottom.

The important thing here is that -- as with most of the media rankings above -- there is a new number one. And it's a much more tolerable shade of blue: