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Just over 2⁄3 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.