Flames heat up in this week's power rankings

By Sportlogiq Staff (@Sportlogiq)

The Calgary Flames are one of our biggest risers in this week’s Power Rankings, jumping into the top three after a stellar 4-0-0 week. Calgary won by four goals in three of its four wins, including back-to-back 4-0 shutouts to end the week.

Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane are carrying the offensive load with seven goals each, combining for nearly half of Calgary’s 29 goals. Both players are scoring on 35 per cent of their shots, so the Flames will need to receive contributions from other players in the lineup when those percentages fall back to earth.

The Oilers had a light week with only two games, and they drop slightly in our rankings after collecting their first loss of the season. The Oilers are now one point back of the Flames and the lead in the Pacific Division.

Connor McDavid had his first game without putting up multiple points this year on Saturday night, registering “only” one assist on what turned out to be the game-winning goal. Edmonton seems like an early favourite to compete for the division crown.

The only other Canadian club to move up this week is the Winnipeg Jets, who saw their four-game winning streak snapped in an overtime loss to the Sharks on Saturday.

While a jump from 22 to 14 is good, there are reasons to be leery of the Jets’ success.

The Jets continue to have one of the worst expected goal differentials in the NHL at -0.67 per game, good for 29th overall. The only teams worse than the Jets in this area are the Blue Jackets, Canadiens, and Coyotes, who have a combined 7-19-1 record. It’s not the kind of company you want to keep if you’re expecting to be competitive.

The Maple Leafs are starting to right the ship after a slow start to the season, with two wins this week. However, they were both one-goal games, while they lost 4-1 to the Hurricanes, which hurts their goal differential and explains their slight drop.

Things are still looking up, however, as Toronto has the best expected goal differential in the NHL for the second week in a row, showing that the process is right, and it should start paying dividends before long. Expect Toronto to climb in our Power Rankings soon.

Three straight one-goal losses this week make Vancouver the biggest dropper among Canadian teams, falling 11 spots to 26th overall. The Canucks sit tied for last in the Pacific with L.A. and Seattle.

Vancouver has a near perfectly even expected goal differential (+0.01), so seeing close games like this makes sense. The Canucks just got the wrong end of the stick this week.

A quiet, 1-1-0 week for Ottawa precedes a loaded next seven days for the Senators. They start with a road back-to-back against Chicago and Minnesota before hosting Vegas and Tampa Bay.

The Senators are showing some flashes which are encouraging for the future, but there is still a long road ahead of them.

The nightmare start to the season continues for the Canadiens. They managed to get their second win of the season but dropped their other three games this week, each of which was a convincing win for their opposition.

Now with a 2-8-0 record in their first 10 games, Montreal is already fighting to stay relevant. Jeff Petry hasn’t been able to step up in the absence of Shea Weber, scoring his first and only point this year on Sunday. Mike Hoffman has been a rare bright spot for the Habs, scoring a goal in four of his past five games.

Montreal was saved from last place by even worse starts from Chicago and Arizona, who are still winless.

Some of the big favourites from the preseason are slowly but surely moving up the rankings after getting off to slow starts. Colorado climbs in the top half of the NHL with a 2-1-0 record this week. Tampa jumps from 25 to 19, thanks to a pair of 5-1 wins, making up for a 5-1 loss to Buffalo on Tuesday. Vegas won three of its four games to move to .500 and out of the bottom five.