Marc-Andre Fleury and the Vegas Golden Knights refuse to hang ’em up.
After becoming the first expansion team in NHL history to sweep their first playoff series, thanks to two shutouts from the 33-year-old Fleury with his remarkable .977 save percentage and 0.65 goals-against average, the Golden Knights move on to face the San Jose Sharks in Round 2 and are the top-ranked playoff team for the second consecutive week in TSN’s 7-Eleven Power Rankings, according to consensus rankings formulated by the TSN Power Ranking panel of Ray Ferraro, Jeff O’Neill, Jamie McLennan, Craig Button and Darren Dreger.
With their convincing 4-1 series win over the Minnesota Wild – the first playoff-series victory for this Atlanta/Winnipeg franchise – the Jets move up three spots this week to No. 2 as they prepare to face the Nashville Predators in the second round. Winners of the Presidents’ Trophy, the Preds slip two spots to No. 5 this week after needing six games to eliminate the pesky Colorado Avalanche (No. 11), who move up from their No. 13 position last week.
With their sweep of the Anaheim Ducks, the No. 3 Sharks jump three spots this week from No. 6 a week ago after Martin Jones recorded a .970 SV% and 1.00 GAA in four games. The Tampa Bay Lightning, meanwhile, remain at No. 4 for the second straight week after ousting the No. 13 New Jersey Devils in five games to round out our top-5 playoff teams this week.
The Pittsburgh Penguins, led by Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel who share the playoff scoring lead with 13 points apiece, move up two places to No. 6 in our rankings after ousting the No. 12 Philadelphia Flyers in six games. The Penguins face the winner of the Washington-Columbus series in the next round.
After putting the Toronto Maple Leafs on the brink of elimination last Thursday, the No. 7 Boston Bruins slip five spots this week from No. 2 a week ago after dropping Game 5 to the No. 10 Leafs, who climb four spots this week. Game 6 goes Monday night at the Air Canada Centre, with the series back in Boston on Wednesday if the Bruins can’t close it out in six.
The No. 8-ranked Capitals (No. 10 last week) face the No. 9 Blue Jackets (No. 7 a week ago) in another Game 6 Eastern Conference showdown on Monday in Columbus after battling back from a 2-0 series deficit. Braden Holtby has won three straight for the Caps, stopping 102 of 109 shots he’s faced, after replacing Philipp Grubauer in Game 2. Columbus coach John Tortorella, however, has boldly guaranteed his team will be back in Washington for Game 7 on Wednesday.
The worst playoff teams this week include the Wild (No. 14), who drop five spots from No. 9 a week ago after a subpar performance in net from Devan Dubnyk (.908 SV%, 3.39 GAA); the low-scoring Ducks at No. 15, who held the lead just once (for 9:01) during their four-game sweep by the Sharks; and the Kings, who finish off their 2018 playoff dead last at No. 16, the same position they held in last week’s playoff rankings despite receiving outstanding goaltending from Jonathan Quick (.947 SV%, 1.55 GAA).