OUTSIDER SPORTS BUZZ: NHL Weekly Report/Devils and Hurricanes
Welcome to Outsider Sports Buzz, the NHL edition. Here we will break down the biggest news in the NHL over the course of the week and the Outsider Sports staff power rankings.
Image credit to Jim McIsaac/Getty Images
Devils right back in Metro Race
New Jersey made a statement Sunday night with a huge 3-0 win over the Hurricanes and pulling even with them in the standings at 94 points. All around it was a great performance from New Jersey on home ice, one the Devils were looking for against Toronto last week.
Jack Broke the Game
We all know that Jack Hughes is a superstar at this point and while he has still been a point-per- game player since coming back from an injury that held him out for four games, many have been concerned that his torrid pace before the injury wasn’t continuing. Hughes put those worries to bed in this one, scoring the opening goal and assisting on the other two goals.
His first goal was a true display of not only skill, but effort. While Canes defenseman Calvin de Haan was slowly skating the puck out of his zone, Hughes used his speed to catch de Haan from behind and pick his pocket and create a mini breakaway where he squeaked the puck through. Hughes continued to wreck the game throughout, using his speed to create turnovers, including one that resulted in New Jersey’s third goal.
Bratt’s Back?
Jesper Bratt has been great for the Devils this season, but he has had moments where he has disappeared, especially in big games when they need offense. For Bratt, this was arguably the biggest game of his career so far. That even counts his rookie year in 2017, since he is such a focal point and the expectations this year are different. Bratt had his signature moment in a big spot Sunday night. Although Hughes’ performance may overshadow his two-goal game, Bratt was still a standout, so much so, that he was bumped up to the Hughes/Timo Meier line just three shifts into the game. Bratt’s inconsistency has been frustrating for Devils fans at times, but that might be a thing of the past if he continues to play with two of the most dangerous players in the league in Hughes and Meier.
Great spot for Vitek
Vitek Vanecek has been struggling, and it has had New Jersey fans worried. Yet another Devil though stepped up to put those worries to bed. The Devils netminder earned his third shutout of the season, and even though he didn’t look completely comfortable from the get-go, he made some key stops and built his confidence back up. Even though it was a back-to-back and we likely were going to see two goalies in both games, it was a great coaching move to play Vanecek against Carolina. Not just because you figure the Hurricanes will give you more work, but they also fire shots from all over the ice. Sometimes as a goalie, it is easier to play the position when they just fire rubber into you. That seemed to be the way the game started and Vanecek was able to make some saves and slowly build his confidence as the game progressed and Carolina’s chances grew more desperate and dangerous.
Impact
This game puts the Devils and Hurricanes into a tie for first place in the Metropolitan Division. Carolina does have a game in-hand, but they have gone over 170 straight minutes without a goal. They were without Andrei Svechnikov for this one against New Jersey and it showed. If this game went the other way, it is possible the Devils find themselves 6 points back, instead they now share first place. This win is also the Devils ninth straight win against division opponents and they improve to 9- 0-1 against their division, the toughest division in the NHL, in 2023.
Wild Card picture starts to take shape in the East
This race has been lots of fun to watch going down the stretch, but it looks like the underdogs in this race are starting to fall a bit behind. Buffalo and Ottawa are both still within reach but after failing to gain ground this week and less than 20 games remaining, time is running out if they want to close the gap.
For Ottawa, they can the distance down some of the Islanders’ lead with the two games in-hand they have, but they must win both and then they have two games remaining against Toronto, Carolina, Florida and Tampa Bay. They will also see Boston, Pittsburgh and New Jersey, all teams ahead of them in the standings that make up 10 of the team’s final 16 games.
Like the Senators, Buffalo has a bunch of tough opponents coming up, including two games against the Devils and Rangers. Throw in one game against the Bruins, Islanders, Hurricanes and Panthers, and they have 8 of their remaining 17 games against teams they’re chasing to try and make up seven points in the standings with three games in-hand.
The team that is currently closest to replacing the Islanders for the final playoff spot is Florida. They have one game in-hand and they sit three points back. Their remaining schedule isn’t much easier, but the fire power and experience should certainly give the Panthers a better chance than the young Senators and Sabres teams.
OUTSIDER SPORTS POWER RANKINGS
Members of the Outsider Sports Hockey Podcast Tom Leone and Mikey D a long with myself each provided our top 10 teams in the NHL. How we ranked them? Where we ranked each team was how many points assigned to them, with first getting 10 points and 10th getting 1 point. The team with the most points is ranked first. How we ranked each team is underneath our rankings.
1. Boston Bruins (30 points)
Once again, it’s the Bruins who sit unanimously at the top of our power rankings. They made more history this past week, becoming the fastest team to win 50 wins, needing just 64 games. The last time we saw regular season dominace like this was the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors in the NBA.
2. Carolina Hurricanes (26 points)
The Hurricanes still hang on to our No. 2 spot in the power rankings, but they weren’t unanimous this week. They were shut out both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, but part of that can be credited to not having Svechnikov for most of those two games. Even though New Jersey looked great the Hurricanes have proven they can beat them, and it isn’t fair for recency bias to bump them from this spot for two bad games.
3. New Jersey Devils (25 points)
The week didn’t have the best start with the Devils blowing a 3-2 third period lead at home against Toronto, but they bounced back with three-straight wins including Sunday’s win over Carolina. Despite the win over the Hurricanes and moving into a tie for first in the Metro, they need to show that they can take full control of the Metro before dethroning the Canes for that second spot.
4. Toronto Maple Leafs (21 points)
The Leafs went into New Jersey and won a statement game without Jonathan Tavares and Ryan O’Reilly to start the week and then won a slugfest, 7-4 against the Oilers. Toronto continues to stack the points as they roll into the playoffs. Catching Boston isn’t realistic, but they are still fending off the Lightning, who are just four points back, but the Maple Leafs do have two games in-hand.
5. Dallas Stars (17 points)
The Stars bounced back from a tough 5-4 loss at home against the Flames with a historic 10-goal performance in Buffalo and then they won a close, 4-3 game in Seattle.
6. New York Rangers (14 points)
The Rangers are still struggling to find their sweet spot with all the new additions, but they still found a way to grab five out of a possible six points this week. Once things start clicking, this could easily be a top-5 team with Igor Shesterkin between the pipes.
7. Vegas Golden Knights (13 points)
With Sunday’s win over St. Louis, the Golden Knights have quietly won six of their last seven. Right away Jonathan Quick has settled things and won his first three starts, including a shutout Saturday in Raleigh, NC.
8. Tampa Bay Lightning (9 points)
The Lighting slid down to eighth in our rankings, tied with the Wild in points. They snapped their losing streak with a win at home against the Flyers Tuesday, but they finished the week 2-2-0, with the only wins coming against non-playoff teams. They see New Jersey for three of their next four games, so that will be a good test to see how they stack up still against the best in the league.
9. Minnesota Wild (9 points)
The Wild lost two games to start the week, but they took care of San Jose on the road and went into Mullet Arena in Arizona on Sunday and grabbed one point to pull within as many of Dallas for the Central Division lead.
10. Los Angeles Kings (3 points)
The Kings just keep maintaining their pace and winning games. They were able to pick up five of six possible points and they sit just three points behind Vegas for the top seed in the Western Conference.
How we ranked them:
Ben Mandell: Boston Bruins, New Jersey Devils, Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Rangers, Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights, Minnesota Wild, Los Angeles Kings.
Tom Leone: Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, Dallas Stars, Vegas Golden Knights, New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild, Tampa Bay Lightning, Los Angeles Kings.
Mikey D: Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils, Toronto Maple Leafs, Dallas Stars, Vegas Golden Knights, New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Minnesota Wild, Los Angeles Kings.