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LHH Power Rankings - There are other sports? Super!

Ottawa Senators v New York Islanders
No, not THAT kind of football!
Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

I guess there’s some other sort of sporting contest happening today. From what I understand, it will be shown sporadically between a bunch of commercials.

So, the Islanders won last night, and have points in 8 straight games. They’re also in first place in the Metro, still. I guess Bossy and Trottier are getting it done up front, and Billy Smith is holding down the fort on the back end. What, this isn’t the 80’s?

The Isles are now universally in the top 7 of all the other pros I track, even the ones that are more than a week out of date. Here’s what they have to say:

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.

Now on to the actual rankings: Remember that the W-L-T records shown reflect regulation/OT wins and losses, with shootout games counted as ties.

Metro

The Islanders went 1-0-2 since the last update, which was enough to gain them a point in the rankings and hang on to 4th overall in the NHL. The other top Metro teams all lost between 1 and 3 points, although Washington managed to move up from 13th to 12th. The biggest gainer in the NHL was Philadelphia, picking up 6 points and jumping from 30th to 26th. The Devils also got hot, picking up 4.2 points and going from 28th to 25th.

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

The Metro is also no longer the weakest NHL division, weaseling up past the Pathetic Division, but still a decent margin behind the

Atlantic

Tampa and Toronto continue to lead, and Boston and Montreal are tied for 14th overall. Detroit picked up 4.2 points and moved to 23rd from 27th. Florida also showed some signs of life moving from 24th to 21st.

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

And now out west where they also play what some consider hockey:

The only team in the Central that didn’t pick up points was Colorado. Winnipeg and Nashville are the teams right behind the Isles in the rankings. Dallas remains in the top 10, and St. Louis jumps 5 spots from 16th to 11th. The Central would put 5 teams into the playoffs if the LHH point system was used.

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

Pathetic Division

Vegas went into free fall, dropping 5 point and 5 spots from 11th to 16th. Calgary dropped some points, but still holds onto 2nd overall. Edmonton is at risk of being booted from Canada as they continue to slide, down 4 spots to 27th. Word from my sauces is that Trudeau is trying to swing a deal with Trump by offering Edmonton, poutine, bacon, maple syrup and William Shatner for San Jose. The deal is being held up by Trump insisting Canada take Justin Bieber back.

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 Road Ahead

2 short, relatively local road trips in the next 2 weeks, before the big western Canada in February road trip (fire your travel agent!).

Tue. 2/5: @ Boston (14)
Thu. 2/7: @ New Jersey (25)
Sat. 2/9: vs Colorado (22)
Sun. 2/10: vs Minnesota (12)
Tue. 2/12: @ Buffalo (19)
Thu. 2/14: @ Columbus (10)
Sat 2/16: vs Edmonton (27)

Bonus Rankings! NJ D-Division Beer League

This is the league where I play. I’m on the Narwhals, currently riding a 9 game win streak and looking to extend it tomorrow night.

Beer League

Team GP W L T PTS LHH #
Team GP W L T PTS LHH #
Narwhals 14 11 2 1 23 177.6 1
Outlaws 14 8 6 0 16 128.3 2
Rolling Thunder 14 8 5 1 17 125.3 3
Kodiakbears 15 8 6 1 17 113.3 4
Storm 15 10 5 0 20 94.5 5
Wolves 14 6 8 0 12 72.4 6
Chiefs 14 1 12 1 3 48.1 7
Benders 14 3 11 0 6 40.6 8

6 games to go in the season, top 4 teams make the playoffs. Winner goes to Toronto in June to play other league winners.