Oilers hold down spot as top Canadian team in NHL Power Rankings

by SportLogiq

For the second straight week, the Oilers hold on to the best of the rest spot behind Boston after a 4-0-0 week, even winning their last two games via shutout.

Since March 1, Edmonton has a stellar 13-2-1 record with a plus-24 goal differential. With games against the Ducks and against the Sharks twice left on the schedule, can they close the gap to the Golden Knights for first place in the Pacific? They are down by just two points, but Vegas has a game in hand.

It was pretty much a lock for the past few weeks, months even, but it is now official: the Maple Leafs and Lightning will face off in the first round of the playoffs. Home-ice advantage is still at play and Toronto has a four-point lead on Tampa with a game in hand, so the Leafs are very much in control of their own destiny. They fall one position in the rankings this week and they have a big game against the Bruins, sandwiched between two games where they're heavy favourites against the Blue Jackets and Canadiens.

The Jets and Flames are still in a tight battle for the last wild card spot in the West and a four-point game between the two teams on Wednesday looms big for both squads.

Winnipeg makes up ground in the Power Rankings this week thanks in part to a convincing 6-1 win against the Devils after stumbling in a 3-0 loss to San Jose last Tuesday. The Flames, however, made up ground in the NHL standings after going 3-0-0.

Calgary saw their playoff odds more than double from 12 per cent to 25 per cent and have a favourable schedule that includes games against the Blackhawks, Canucks, Predators, and Sharks, plus the aforementioned Jets matchup, which will be a huge swing in this race. The Jets, meanwhile, also face the Sharks and Predators, but they finish their season with road games in Minnesota and Colorado, not ideal for a team with a 19-19-1 record away from home.

Ottawa’s playoff dream was already a long shot, but it took another hit as Thomas Chabot is likely out for most, if not all the remainder of the season. This comes one week after their prized deadline acquisition, Jakob Chychrun, was also knocked out for multiple weeks with an injury. If anything, this is a good audition for Jake Sanderson, who leads the team with 25:15 of ice time since Chabot has been out of the lineup. The playoff dreams, however, will likely have to wait another year.

It was a winless week in Vancouver, but the Canucks did lose a pair of games in overtime to push their point total to 22 since the trade deadline. Only the Bruins (24), Avalanche (23), and Oilers (23) have done better since March 3. In that span, J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, and Andrei Kuzmenko are scoring at a point-per-game rate or better, while Brock Boeser falls just short with 14 points in 15 games.

It was a tough week in Montreal, who have now lost three straight and have now officially announced that Sean Monahan is out for the year, as is Alex Belzile after fracturing his leg. Montreal also put up one of the worst offensive performances in the NHL this season on Saturday against the Hurricanes. The Habs were completely stifled by the Canes, generating a meagre 0.69 expected goals. This is the second-lowest output in a game this season. Only the Blackhawks have done worse, with 0.63 expected goals against the Bruins in November. The attention of the fan base is solely on the standings, as Montreal currently holds the fifth-best lottery odds, with the Coyotes just a single point better than them and on a seven-game losing streak.