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LHH Power Rankings: Win Over Pens Keeps Isles Out of Basement

Anders Lee's goal lifts the Isles up from Hades to the area right above Hades.

By ICanSeeForIslesAndIsles
Somewhere in that huddle is a hero.
Somewhere in that huddle is a hero.
Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

(ed. note: Mike finished this before the Islanders win in Washington on Thursday night)

As Wednesday night's lead shrunk from three goals to one, I tweeted that the Isles might end up 32nd in this week's power rankings, behind Vegas and whoever the final expansion team would be. When the Pens tied the game, I threw in the Charlestown Chiefs and the film version of the Mighty Ducks for good measure.

I was joking, but having updated the rankings already, I knew the Isles sat dead last. When Anders Lee scored, the Isles not only got arguably their first quality win of the year, but did so in regulation, earning them just enough to squeak by Vancouver. More on this in a minute, although I don't know why you'd want to read about our favorite team being 29th out of 30.

Weekly Roundup of Opinion Polls

Site Updated New Ranking Prior Ranking Comments
SportsNet --- --- --- Nada.
ESPN 11/28/2016 30 29 With two wins in 11 November games, you have to wonder how much longer new ownership will be patient.
TSN 11/29/2016 30 30 The Isles are grinding out points, here and there, but have one regulation win in November. Tough to gain ground that way.
THN 11/30/2016 26 25 John Tavares’ goal in a 2-1 overtime win over Calgary Monday night was his first in nine games
Average 28.7 28 "It's hard to hold a candle / In the cold November rain."

Sportsnet took off much of November, just like the Isles. Anyway, nothing too scathing here, so let's move on.

LHH Power Rankings

For games through 11/30/16

LHH LHH
GP W L T Pts Rating
1 Columbus Blue Jackets 21 9 5 7 25 128.6
2 New York Rangers 24 16 7 1 33 126.4
3 Montreal Canadiens 23 15 5 3 33 117.0
4 Anaheim Ducks 22 11 7 4 26 111.7
5 San Jose Sharks 24 12 9 3 27 110.6
6 Pittsburgh Penguins 22 9 7 6 24 108.8
7 Nashville Predators 22 11 8 3 25 107.9
8 St. Louis Blues 23 10 7 6 26 107.9
9 Washington Capitals 21 11 6 4 26 107.2
10 Minnesota Wild 22 10 8 4 24 106.4
11 Boston Bruins 23 11 10 2 24 106.1
12 Chicago Blackhawks 24 9 6 9 27 105.5
13 Tampa Bay Lightning 24 12 10 2 26 105.2
14 Ottawa Senators 23 9 8 6 24 102.6
15 Edmonton Oilers 24 11 10 3 25 102.5
16 Carolina Hurricanes 22 8 9 5 21 101.7
17 Toronto Maple Leafs 23 9 9 5 23 98.7
18 Calgary Flames 26 8 13 5 21 96.4
19 Buffalo Sabres 22 7 9 6 20 95.8
20 Dallas Stars 24 8 9 7 23 95.6
21 Detroit Red Wings 23 7 10 6 20 93.8
22 Florida Panthers 23 5 10 8 18 91.6
23 New Jersey Devils 22 5 7 10 20 91.3
24 Los Angeles Kings 23 6 10 7 19 87.1
25 Winnipeg Jets 25 8 12 5 21 86.5
26 Philadelphia Flyers 24 7 10 7 21 84.5
27 Colorado Avalanche 21 6 11 4 16 84.3
28 Arizona Coyotes 21 4 10 7 15 81.2
29 New York Islanders 22 5 10 7 17 79.1
30 Vancouver Canucks 23 4 11 8 16 77.9

You might wonder why the Blue Jackets are at the top, but their strength of schedule has been a bit tougher and they've played two or three less games than the teams immediately beneath them. So there they are, with a coach that learned how to adapt to today's game, and to the players he has on hand. Not that I'm hinting at anything. No-sir-ee. Anyhow, I was surprised that the win over the Pens had enough of an effect to raise the Isles up a notch, but I'll take whatever tiny victories I can find at this point.

Short post this week. Even the win over Pittsburgh kinda feels like a loss. I need something better to do with my time.