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LHH Power Rankings - Getting Some Love Edition

Edmonton Oilers v New York Islanders
Sweet, sweet lovin’
Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Just over 23 of the way into the season, and the other, lesser rankings are finally catching up to us... sort of. The Hockey Guy shows his love in his video for this week (linked in the table below). Since those guys actually get paid to write their stuff, you can read the rest:

Entry # 5 - Feb 17, 2019

Site Updated New Ranking Prior Ranking Comments
Site Updated New Ranking Prior Ranking Comments
Buffalo News 2/16/2019 6 6 Playoff site decision using both arenas is probably best compromise.
The Hockey Guy 2/16/2019 3 3 There isn't a player on this roster that is not playing well.
Brian Simmons 2/15/2019 3 4
ESPN 2/14/2019 6 5 What's so wrong about loving two goalies equally? Robin Lehner has gotten a bit more attention, but Thomas Greiss is only a slight step behind and has gone 4-0-1, saving 154 of 157 shots (.981 save percentage) in his past five games.
SportsNet 2/13/2019 4 4 Trade Deadline Prediction: Trader upgrader… we’re guessing. Lou Lamoriello’s lips are sealed like the Ark of the Covenant, but the GM has to reward a group that has rocked the Metropolitan, doesn’t he? While his lack of a 2019 third- or fourth-round pick gives us reason to think he’d be hesitant to let go of a first or second as well, the Islanders should be in the mix for the high-end forwards that become available.
NBC 2/11/2019 7 7 The Islanders are a perfect 9-0 in the second half of back-to-backs.
CBS 2/6/2019 6 6 They're legitimate. They beat who they're supposed to and give the real ones a fight. Barry Trotz really got this defense up to par.
NJ.com 2/5/2019 5 5 A 1-0 shootout loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning provided another example of how the Islanders can hang with the league's top teams. After being the NHL's worst defense in 2017-18, things have turned around dramatically on Long Island.

Since we last talked, the Isles went 4-2-1 (The LHH system counts any shootout games as a tie regardless of outcome). This was enough to maintain 4th place. The biggest changes, for the better) were St. Louis (7-0-0) up 8.5 ranking points and 4 places to 7th; Boston (7-0-1) up 7.3 points and 3 spots to 11th, and Carolina (5-2-0) up 6.3 points to 13th.

The biggest losers during the same time frame were Winnipeg (2-5-0) down 6.4 points and from 5th to 9th; Vancouver (0-6-2) down 6 points and from 17th to 21st; Minnesota (1-4-1) down 5.3 points and from 12th to 17th; and Pittsburgh (2-4-0) down 4.7 points and from 7th to 10th.

Metro

The Isles opened their lead to 6.3 points in the Metro, with Columbus (5-1-0) charging up to second in the division. Washington (3-3-0) gained 2.2 points but fell 2 spots to 14th in the ranking. Philadelphia (4-1-1) picked up 2 points and 4 spots in the rankings.

Metro - 100.5

# Team GP W L T Pts LHH # LW L#
# Team GP W L T Pts LHH # LW L#
1 New York Islanders 58 32 18 8 72 116.0 4 115.6 4
2 Columbus Blue Jackets 57 33 23 1 67 109.7 7 105.2 10
3 Pittsburgh Penguins 58 29 26 3 61 107.6 10 112.3 7
WC1 Carolina Hurricanes 59 30 26 3 63 102.8 13 96.5 18
WC2 Washington Capitals 58 29 25 4 62 102.6 14 100.4 12
12 Philadelphia Flyers 58 25 30 3 53 90.0 22 88.0 26
14 New York Rangers 57 19 30 8 46 87.7 25 85.8 26
15 New Jersey Devils 58 21 33 4 46 87.6 26 88.7 25

Atlantic

Tampa Bay (5-1-1) continues to roll. Their lead stretched ahead of the Pajamas (5-2-0) by another 2 points. Montreal (2-3-0) actually gained points in the rankings, but lost 1 spot to 15th.

Atlantic - 102.0

# Team GP W L T PTS LHH # LW L#
# Team GP W L T PTS LHH # LW L#
1 Tampa Bay Lightning 59 40 14 5 85 128.3 1 126.2 1
2 Toronto Maple Leafs 58 36 22 0 72 117.6 3 117.5 3
3 Boston Bruins 59 32 24 3 67 107.5 11 100.2 14
9 Montreal Canadiens 58 29 27 2 60 101.9 15 100.2 14
10 Buffalo Sabres 57 24 28 5 53 94.6 18 96.0 19
11 Florida Panthers 56 21 28 7 49 94.0 20 93.2 21
13 Detroit Red Wings 59 21 31 7 49 88.2 24 89.2 23
16 Ottawa Senators 58 22 36 0 44 84.1 31 81.7 31

Central

Nashville, St. Louis and Winnipeg are separated by lesss than 2 points, but the division as a whole suffered with 4 of the 6 teams losing over 3 points. The division average score dropped almost 2 points, and yet using the LHH system, they’d have 5 playoff teams.

Central - 100.7

# Team GP W L T PTS LHH # LW L#
# Team GP W L T PTS LHH # LW L#
1 Nashville Predators 61 33 26 2 68 110.8 6 114.7 6
2 St. Louis Blues 57 30 26 1 61 109.7 7 101.2 11
3 Winnipeg Jets 59 34 22 3 71 109.0 9 115.4 5
WC1 Dallas Stars 58 30 28 0 60 104.8 12 108.8 9
WC2 Minnesota Wild 58 26 29 3 55 95.1 17 100.4 12
11 Colorado Avalanche 58 23 34 1 47 88.8 23 92.3 22
12 Chicago Blackhawks 59 23 34 2 48 86.6 27 85.1 30

Pacific

There’s Calgary (2-1-2) and San Jose (5-1-0) , then there’s everyone else. This is the worst division in the NHL by a large margin.

Pacific - 96.9

# Team GP W L T PTS LHH # LW L#
# Team GP W L T PTS LHH # LW L#
1 Calgary Flames 58 35 19 4 74 119.2 2 118.8 2
2 San Jose Sharks 59 35 21 3 73 115.4 5 111.6 8
3 Vegas Golden Knights 60 30 27 3 63 98.8 16 99.4 16
9 Arizona Coyotes 58 24 31 3 51 94.1 19 93.8 20
10 Vancouver Canucks 60 23 31 6 52 92.6 21 98.6 17
13 Los Angeles Kings 58 21 33 4 46 85.2 28 86.4 28
14 Anaheim Ducks 58 19 34 5 43 84.9 29 89.1 24
15 Edmonton Oilers 58 21 34 3 45 84.7 30 87.4 27

The Next 2 Weeks

This is shaping up to be a potentially rough stretch, with the 3 games in 4 nights western trip, our 2 games against #2 Calgary, hosting the #3 Pajamas, and wrapping up with Washington.

Wed 2/20 - @ Calgary (2)
Thu 2/21 - @ Edmonton (20)
Sat 2/23 - @ Vancouver (21)
Tue 2/26 - vs Calgary (2)
Thu 2/28 - vs Pajamas (3)
Fri 3/1 - vs Washington (14)

The next update will be on March 3rd, just before our tilt with the Gritties.