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The New York Islanders might have been 2-1-0 in the eyes of the NHL during last week's road trip, but they went 1-1 in regulation plus a "tie" in the eyes of our LHH power rankings. Their loss came against a good team, their win and tie came against non-playoff teams. That doesn't help much in our rankings.
But first, in Opinionville...
Weekly Roundup of Opinion Polls
Site | Updated | New Ranking | Prior Ranking | Comments |
CBS | 2/10/2015 | 8 | 6 | The Islanders have been able to maintain their lead in the Metropolitan Division despite some recent stumbles. The race is pretty tight, though, with the Penguins trailing by just one point. |
ESPN | 2/9/2015 | 8 | 8 | The Isles won in Buffalo on Sunday and now have four in a row at home against soft touches Edmonton, Toronto and Columbus before hosting the hated Rangers. |
TSN | 2/3/2015 | (Late to the party, again.) | ||
Fox | 2/5/2015 | 7 | 4 | The Islanders have managed five goals in this three-game losing streak without injured forward Kyle Okposo. The penalty kill has allowed goals on 10 of opponents' last 19 chances, giving New York the league's worst PK at 72.7 percent. |
USA Today | 2/9/2015 | 8 | 5 | Islanders lose key wingers Kyle Okposo, Michael Grabner to injuries. |
NHL Numbers | 2/9/2015 | 5 | 4 | Kanye West's favorite jersey is Kyle Okposo's bane. (Picture of the fisherman jersey accompanies this line) |
Average | 7 | 5 | The loss of Okposo cannot be ignor…. Wait Kanye West?! |
This is the last place I ever thought I'd bring up Kanye West's name, but here we are. TSN is making a habit of releasing their Tuesday power rankings on Wednesday or Thursday, so we might drop them from the list. Fox Sports' timing is bad enough.
So the Isles drop a few positions on average in the eyes of the beholders. Their drop in our rankings is a bit steeper.
LHH Power Rankings
For games through 2/9/15 (does not count the win over the Oilers).
GP | Reg W | OT W | SO | OT L | Reg L | LHH Pts | LHH Pct | LHH Rating | ||
1 | Nashville Predators | 53 | 25 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 12 | 201 | 0.632 | 118 |
2 | Montreal Canadiens | 52 | 26 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 15 | 190 | 0.609 | 117 |
3 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 55 | 30 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 16 | 208 | 0.630 | 115 |
4 | New York Rangers | 51 | 24 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 16 | 180 | 0.588 | 115 |
5 | Chicago Blackhawks | 54 | 24 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 18 | 182 | 0.562 | 114 |
6 | Anaheim Ducks | 54 | 22 | 5 | 12 | 2 | 13 | 192 | 0.593 | 113 |
7 | Detroit Red Wings | 52 | 25 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 12 | 197 | 0.631 | 112 |
8 | New York Islanders | 53 | 22 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 18 | 176 | 0.553 | 112 |
9 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 53 | 23 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 15 | 184 | 0.579 | 111 |
10 | St. Louis Blues | 53 | 24 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 15 | 188 | 0.591 | 110 |
11 | Washington Capitals | 54 | 23 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 16 | 180 | 0.556 | 108 |
12 | San Jose Sharks | 55 | 24 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 20 | 177 | 0.536 | 107 |
13 | Vancouver Canucks | 52 | 23 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 20 | 167 | 0.535 | 105 |
14 | Boston Bruins | 53 | 20 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 18 | 169 | 0.531 | 102 |
15 | Calgary Flames | 54 | 20 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 21 | 164 | 0.506 | 100 |
16 | Minnesota Wild | 52 | 22 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 20 | 160 | 0.513 | 99 |
17 | Los Angeles Kings | 53 | 21 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 18 | 164 | 0.516 | 99 |
18 | Dallas Stars | 53 | 21 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 21 | 154 | 0.484 | 98 |
19 | Winnipeg Jets | 55 | 20 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 18 | 168 | 0.509 | 97 |
20 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 54 | 19 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 27 | 137 | 0.423 | 94 |
21 | Philadelphia Flyers | 53 | 16 | 5 | 8 | 2 | 22 | 144 | 0.453 | 94 |
22 | Florida Panthers | 51 | 17 | 1 | 12 | 4 | 17 | 150 | 0.490 | 93 |
23 | Columbus Blue Jackets | 52 | 17 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 26 | 129 | 0.413 | 91 |
24 | New Jersey Devils | 54 | 17 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 24 | 139 | 0.429 | 90 |
25 | Colorado Avalanche | 54 | 13 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 21 | 133 | 0.410 | 89 |
26 | Ottawa Senators | 51 | 14 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 22 | 127 | 0.415 | 88 |
27 | Carolina Hurricanes | 52 | 14 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 26 | 119 | 0.381 | 84 |
28 | Arizona Coyotes | 54 | 13 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 27 | 121 | 0.373 | 80 |
29 | Edmonton Oilers | 54 | 11 | 0 | 7 | 6 | 30 | 99 | 0.306 | 74 |
30 | Buffalo Sabres | 54 | 9 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 35 | 83 | 0.256 | 70 |
The Isles are (at this point, and again that doesn't count the win over the Oil) only four games over .500 in regulation. The quality of their wins is the only thing keeping them from falling further. Losing to a bad team doesn't score much differently than losing to a good team, but beating a good team is much, much better than beating a bad one, so if you're going to lose in regulation, lose to a bad team.
The Tank Race
Nashville retains the top spot, and deservedly so. The difference between each position near the top of the table is quite small (the Isles are actually tied for 7th), but just look at the bottom teams: Buffalo is distinctly worse than Edmonton, who is distinctly worse than Arizona, who is distinctly worse than Carolina. The tank race is not very competitive, if you use our scoring system.
Anyway, the Isles have a relatively easier schedule this week. Regulation wins, even against easier teams, would certainly boost them. Given their current injury bug, I think we all agree that racking up wins now is crucial.