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The Lighthouse Hockey power rankings took a Thanksgiving break last week, and the first thing I was thankful for was not having to see how far our team had fallen. Surely they'd turn it around after two weeks, right? Er....
Roundup of Weekly Opinion Polls
Let's see how poorly the Isles look in the eyes of others first...
| Date | Prior | |||
| Site | Published | Ranking | Ranking | Comments |
| CBS | 12/2/2013 | 28 | 27 | Last season the Isles overcame the subpar back end with a very strong offense; this season the offense is 18th in the league. Not the problem this year, but not the answer either. |
| ESPN | 12/2/2013 | 29 | 25 | The spirited run to the playoffs last season seems as if it happened years ago and to an entirely different team. |
| TSN | 12/2/2013 | 28 | 28 | 2-10-1 in the last 13 games leaves the Islanders at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division and should probably start discussion about where they will deal LW Thomas Vanek in order to recoup some of the assets lost to acquire him from Buffalo early in the season. |
| Fox Sports | 11/28/2013 | 25 | 25 | GOOD NEWS: Led by center John Tavares, they feature a respectable NHL offense. BAD NEWS: This team allowed 82 goals allowed in 24 games. That is hard to do in today’s game. BOTTOM LINE: GM Garth Snow is a former goaltender, so he knows bad goaltending when he sees it. He absolutely, positively needs to acquire a new netminder. |
| Sports Illustrated | 12/3/2013 | 29 | 28 | With seven losses in their last eight games, the Isles are on the express elevator to the Eastern basement. Rumors about the job security of their coach are starting to percolate, but GM Garth Snow owes Jack Capuano a chance to fill out a lineup with a halfway decent defense and proven NHL goaltender before he holds him accountable. |
| SB Nation [Updated] |
12/5/2013 | 28 | --- | You'd think Snow would recognize when goaltending was a major problem for his team, but it seems like he's oblivious to it. Only Edmonton has allowed more goals than Long Island, and the Isles are actually a halfway decent possession team. |
| Average | 27.8 | 26.6 | Oh, the horror. |
Yep. Pretty damn bad. To the publications' credit, only one mentioned the possibility of Capuano getting the axe. That's an easy line to write right now.
LHH Power Rankings
And now our own cold, hard calculations, which put the Isles near the cold, hard bedrock.
| W | L | OTL | Pts | PWR | ||
| 1 | San Jose | 18 | 3 | 5 | 41 | 2372 |
| 2 | Colorado | 19 | 6 | 0 | 38 | 2340 |
| 3 | St. Louis | 18 | 5 | 3 | 39 | 2330 |
| 4 | Chicago | 20 | 4 | 4 | 44 | 2198 |
| 5 | Phoenix | 15 | 7 | 4 | 34 | 2017 |
| 6 | Los Angeles | 17 | 7 | 4 | 38 | 1961 |
| 7 | Boston | 18 | 7 | 2 | 38 | 1959 |
| 8 | Anaheim | 18 | 7 | 4 | 40 | 1902 |
| 9 | Tampa Bay | 16 | 9 | 1 | 33 | 1800 |
| 10 | Minnesota | 16 | 8 | 5 | 37 | 1766 |
| 11 | Pittsburgh | 18 | 9 | 1 | 37 | 1737 |
| 12 | Nashville | 13 | 11 | 3 | 29 | 1664 |
| 13 | Montreal | 16 | 9 | 3 | 35 | 1643 |
| 14 | Detroit | 14 | 7 | 7 | 35 | 1635 |
| 15 | Dallas | 12 | 9 | 4 | 28 | 1604 |
| 16 | Vancouver | 14 | 10 | 5 | 33 | 1541 |
| 17 | Winnipeg | 13 | 12 | 4 | 30 | 1515 |
| 18 | Toronto | 14 | 10 | 3 | 31 | 1465 |
| 19 | Washington | 14 | 11 | 2 | 30 | 1412 |
| 20 | New Jersey | 11 | 12 | 5 | 27 | 1358 |
| 21 | NY Rangers | 14 | 14 | 0 | 28 | 1327 |
| 22 | Carolina | 10 | 12 | 5 | 25 | 1319 |
| 23 | Calgary | 9 | 13 | 4 | 22 | 1261 |
| 24 | Ottawa | 10 | 13 | 4 | 24 | 1240 |
| 25 | Philadelphia | 12 | 13 | 2 | 26 | 1152 |
| 26 | Florida | 7 | 15 | 5 | 19 | 1104 |
| 27 | NY Islanders | 8 | 15 | 4 | 20 | 1048 |
| 28 | Columbus | 10 | 14 | 3 | 23 | 1033 |
| 29 | Edmonton | 9 | 17 | 2 | 20 | 936 |
| 30 | Buffalo | 6 | 20 | 2 | 14 | 744 |
It's an odd mathematical miracle that the Isles are ahead of the Blue Jackets, who have three more points in the standings.
Standings from an Alternate Universe
What if regulation wins earned you three points, just to make all games... you know... equal?! By the way, Puck Daddy is starting to keep track of this as well.
| Atlantic | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
| Boston | 14 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 52 |
| Montreal | 15 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 50 |
| Detroit | 13 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 48 |
| Tampa Bay | 10 | 6 | 1 | 9 | 43 |
| Toronto | 10 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 41 |
| Ottawa | 9 | 1 | 4 | 13 | 33 |
| Florida | 5 | 2 | 5 | 15 | 24 |
| Buffalo | 2 | 4 | 2 | 20 | 16 |
| Metropolitan | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
| Pittsburgh | 16 | 2 | 1 | 9 | 53 |
| NY Rangers | 13 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 41 |
| Philadelphia | 11 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 37 |
| Washington | 6 | 8 | 2 | 11 | 36 |
| New Jersey | 8 | 3 | 5 | 12 | 35 |
| Carolina | 8 | 2 | 5 | 12 | 33 |
| Columbus | 8 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 31 |
| NY Islanders | 5 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 25 |
| Central | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
| Chicago | 16 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 60 |
| St. Louis | 15 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 54 |
| Colorado | 15 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 53 |
| Minnesota | 13 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 50 |
| Nashville | 12 | 1 | 3 | 11 | 41 |
| Winnipeg | 8 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 38 |
| Dallas | 8 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 36 |
| Western | W | OTW | OTL | L | PTS |
| Anaheim | 15 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 55 |
| San Jose | 13 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 54 |
| Los Angeles | 10 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 48 |
| Phoenix | 10 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 44 |
| Vancouver | 9 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 42 |
| Calgary | 6 | 3 | 4 | 13 | 28 |
| Edmonton | 6 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 26 |
The paltry number of regulation victories is rather stark. But of course, no matter how you add things up, the Isles' record is simply bad. Losing in OT to the Pens won't help.
