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Gaze just a little bit longer than you typically would at this post, my friend. It's the Halley's Comet of power ranking articles. The opinion polls' ranking of the Islanders average out to a 5th place position, which just so happens to be the spot they land on our own mathy rankings.
That's the first sign of the hockey apocalypse, people. Second sign is a Buffalo win over a first place team.... oh wait. I think the seventh is Frans missing a penalty shot.
Weekly Roundup of Opinion Polls
Site | Updated | New Ranking | Prior Ranking | Comments | |
1 | CBS | 2/24/2015 | 6 | 7 | The Isles have gone 7-4-1 in the month of February and could be getting forward Kyle Okposo back sooner than later. Recent injuries could challenge them further, but this club continues to impress. |
2 | ESPN | 2/23/2015 | 4 | 4 | The Isles dropped a pair over the weekend to keep things interesting in the Metropolitan Division. Still the division leaders, but the Penguins, Rangers and Caps are all within four points. |
3 | TSN | 2/18/2015 | 6 | --- | The fun-and-gun Islanders have won five of six, with their only loss coming in a massively entertaining, yet frustrating 6-5 loss to the Rangers. Would feel better about the Isles going forward if they could get more consistent goaltending. A .910 save percentage for Jaroslav Halak just isn't good enough. |
4 | Fox | 2/19/2015 | 5 | 7 | Is goalie Jaroslav Halak ready to carry the Islanders' playoff hopes? In nine of his past 13 starts, he's posted a save percentage below .898. |
5 | USA Today | 2/23/2015 | 6 | 8 | John Tavares needs two goals to tie his career high of 31, while rookie Anders Lee has benefited on his wing. |
Average | 5 | 7 | Victory over the Preds? What victory over the Preds? |
OK, so it seems TSN has decided to release their rankings on Wednesdays now, which would make their rankings even older than Fox's. I waited until this morning to see if TSN would post their article before I left for work, but to no avail.
It's weird that not a single publication mentioned the Isles beat the top team in the league, unless TSN does so later today. All other factoids are what you'd expect them to be.
LHH Power Rankings
For games through 2/23/15 (so not counting the win vs. the Coyotes)
GP | Reg W | OT W | SO | OT L | Reg L | LHH Pts | LHH Pct | LHH Rating | ||
1 | Nashville Predators | 60 | 28 | 6 | 11 | 2 | 13 | 229 | 0.636 | 118 |
2 | New York Rangers | 58 | 29 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 16 | 216 | 0.621 | 117 |
3 | Montreal Canadiens | 59 | 28 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 16 | 214 | 0.605 | 116 |
4 | Tampa Bay Lightning | 62 | 33 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 19 | 228 | 0.613 | 115 |
5 | New York Islanders | 61 | 27 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 20 | 209 | 0.571 | 113 |
6 | Pittsburgh Penguins | 60 | 26 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 17 | 208 | 0.578 | 113 |
7 | St. Louis Blues | 59 | 27 | 4 | 9 | 2 | 17 | 209 | 0.590 | 111 |
8 | Washington Capitals | 61 | 26 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 18 | 205 | 0.560 | 111 |
9 | Chicago Blackhawks | 60 | 25 | 3 | 10 | 2 | 20 | 196 | 0.544 | 111 |
10 | Anaheim Ducks | 61 | 25 | 5 | 13 | 2 | 16 | 213 | 0.582 | 110 |
11 | Detroit Red Wings | 58 | 25 | 5 | 12 | 2 | 14 | 210 | 0.603 | 110 |
12 | Vancouver Canucks | 59 | 26 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 22 | 192 | 0.542 | 108 |
13 | San Jose Sharks | 61 | 26 | 2 | 7 | 3 | 23 | 191 | 0.522 | 105 |
14 | Los Angeles Kings | 58 | 26 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 18 | 194 | 0.557 | 105 |
15 | Minnesota Wild | 59 | 26 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 21 | 190 | 0.537 | 101 |
16 | Boston Bruins | 59 | 21 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 21 | 180 | 0.508 | 100 |
17 | Dallas Stars | 60 | 24 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 24 | 174 | 0.483 | 99 |
18 | Calgary Flames | 59 | 21 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 23 | 176 | 0.497 | 98 |
19 | Winnipeg Jets | 61 | 20 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 20 | 180 | 0.492 | 95 |
20 | Columbus Blue Jackets | 58 | 19 | 3 | 6 | 2 | 28 | 148 | 0.425 | 94 |
21 | Philadelphia Flyers | 60 | 18 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 23 | 166 | 0.461 | 94 |
22 | Florida Panthers | 59 | 19 | 1 | 14 | 4 | 21 | 168 | 0.475 | 93 |
23 | Colorado Avalanche | 60 | 17 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 23 | 157 | 0.436 | 93 |
24 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 60 | 19 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 31 | 144 | 0.400 | 91 |
25 | New Jersey Devils | 60 | 20 | 1 | 10 | 3 | 26 | 160 | 0.444 | 90 |
26 | Ottawa Senators | 57 | 18 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 23 | 154 | 0.450 | 90 |
27 | Carolina Hurricanes | 58 | 16 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 30 | 131 | 0.376 | 83 |
28 | Arizona Coyotes | 60 | 13 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 33 | 121 | 0.336 | 75 |
29 | Edmonton Oilers | 61 | 11 | 1 | 9 | 6 | 34 | 109 | 0.298 | 74 |
30 | Buffalo Sabres | 60 | 9 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 38 | 92 | 0.256 | 69 |
The win over the Preds alone kept the Islanders buoyant and even lifted them a bit. The loss to the Caps still counts for half credit (all shootout results do, no matter the winner, because there really is no winner when it comes to shootouts), and the game vs. the Canucks was forgettable.
Anyways, the Preds stay on top, thus denying that other New York team from bragging rights. Eastern Conference teams take up the 2nd through 6th spots, as well as the 8th.
On the other hand, other than Detroit (at 11th), there isn't another Eastern Conference team in the upper half of the table. Also... 4 of the top 10 teams are from the Metro, as well as 4 of the bottom 11. Talk about top-heavy. (Yes, I'm aware that might open the comment threads up to some rather interesting photos. Not my intention at all. You know what? Forget I even said it.) I gotta head out now.