Power Rankings: Scorching Devils rise to the top as Ducks' slide continues

Week: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

ESPN.com

A new week and another chance to sit behind the control console of the all-consuming Power Rankings. (Cue diabolical laughter.) Forget Mr. LeBrun's misguided attempts at reading the tea leaves of the league's powerful and not-so-powerful a week ago; this is the true picture of might and light in the National Hockey League. Read on. Weep if you must, as the New Jersey Devils, a team some (including this one) predicted to miss the playoffs entirely, vault to the top of the power heap.

-- By Scott Burnside; posted Nov. 16

2009-2010 Power Rankings: Week 8
	RK (PV)	TEAM	REC.	COMMENT
	1 (5)	Devils	14-4-0	Slightly ahead of the equally potent San Jose Sharks, the Devils have won eight straight and are unbeaten on the road pending Monday's clash in Philly. Jacques Lemaire is looking as though he's in 1995 form behind the bench; the Devils are, too.
	2 (1)	Sharks	14-4-4	Rolling, rolling, rolling, the Sharks are 9-0-3 in their past 12, and Evgeni Nabokov is on fire. Still, they blew two-goal leads twice last week.
	3 (4)	Flames	12-4-2	Flames have won five of six and have points in six straight games coming off a stretch when they played five of six on the road.
	4 (6)	Capitals	12-4-4	Caps have won four of five, but getting spanked by New Jersey on Saturday after leading 2-0 hurts, as does the recent wobbly play of Jose Theodore.
	5 (8)	Sabres	12-4-1	After losing three of four, the Sabres have bounced back to win three straight, including downing the Flyers on Saturday night. Ryan Miller leads the NHL in both goals-against average and save percentage.
	6 (10)	Blackhawks	12-5-0	Hawks may get Marian Hossa back in a week or so. Completed 4-0 homestand against conference foes with Sunday's overtime victory over San Jose and are a hair behind the Sharks for the best penalty-killing unit in the league. Strangely, have played only six of 19 on the road.
	7 (9)	Flyers	10-5-1	Flyers saw their five-game winning streak end Saturday against Buffalo but still have the league's top power-play unit.
	8 (2)	Penguins	13-7-0	Penguins celebrated Evgeni Malkin's return to the lineup with a miracle come-from-behind win over Boston on Saturday. Even without Sergei Gonchar and Malkin for the past couple of weeks, the Pens' power play should be better than 28th.
	9 (3)	Avalanche	12-5-3	Avs have lost five of seven, including an 8-2 pasting at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. Time to stop the bleeding if they're for real.
	10 (11)	Red Wings	10-5-3	Red Wings have won three straight since an embarrassing loss to Toronto during Hall of Fame weekend. Power-play unit ranks fourth in the league, and Henrik Zetterberg is on fire.
	11 (7)	Kings	12-7-2	Kings bounced back from a dreadful performance (7-0) against Atlanta on Friday to squeeze out a shootout victory over Tampa. Their lengthy eastern road trip comes to a close Monday in Florida.
	12 (12)	Rangers	11-8-1	Rangers have lost three of five and have scored just 10 times during that period. Henrik Lundqvist seems to have shaken off the hip/groin issue that saw him miss time early last week.
	13 (22)	Thrashers	10-6-1	The mighty Thrash have won four in a row and are getting great goaltending from both Ondrej Pavelec and Johan Hedberg. A traditionally weak penalty-killing unit is fifth, and Ilya Kovalchuk is lighting it up since an early return from his foot injury.
	14 (23)	Lightning	7-4-6	Bolts have garnered points in nine of their past 10 games, as Antero Niittymaki has wrested the starting netminding job from incumbent Mike Smith. Scoring balance is an issue, but Bolts' defensive game is impressive.
	15 (15)	Blue Jackets	10-6-2	Blue Jackets have won three of four, but the loss was a 9-1 whipping at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings.
	16 (16)	Coyotes	11-8-0	Coyotes have lost four of six, and you wonder whether they might follow the pattern last season's club did in falling off the map in the second half. Huge win over Dallas on Saturday.
	17 (13)	Stars	8-5-6	Stars have lost five of seven and will be in Detroit later this week to close a road trip in which they've lost two of three, both by one goal.
	18 (26)	Islanders	7-6-7	Points in four straight games for the resilient Isles, as rookie John Tavares leads the team in goals (eight) and points (18) -- tops in the NHL among first-year players.
	19 (14)	Canucks	11-10-0	Weird team these Canucks; can't win on the road but deadly at home. Lost three straight last week, scoring just three times, then crushed Colorado 8-2 on Saturday night. Go figure.
	20 (24)	Predators	9-8-1	Preds slowly climbing back into the playoff hunt, winning seven of 10 as Pekka Rinne has plugged early-season leaks to provide consistent netminding.
	21 (17)	Bruins	8-7-4	First they can't score, and then when they score they can't stop the puck, as Saturday's disheartening 6-5 loss to Pittsburgh attests.
	22 (20)	Senators	8-6-3	Ottawa has lost five of seven and is generating almost no offense. Power play still ranks 24th, and that's not good enough for a playoff spot.
	23 (19)	Canadiens	9-11-0	Habs have lost four of six, and the offense has gone south just when Carey Price was starting to round back into form in goal.
	24 (29)	Panthers	7-9-1	The Panthers' offense is slowly coming alive, as they've won five of seven but are still way too inconsistent to play with the big boys.
	25 (18)	Oilers	8-10-2	The Oil, just emerging from injury and flu doldrums, are in free fall, as they've won just two of their past 11.
	26 (28)	Wild	7-11-2	Signs of life in the state of hockey, as the Wild have collected points in six of eight. Minnesota has the fifth-ranked penalty-killing unit.
	27 (27)	Blues	6-8-4	Even owner Dave Checketts has publicly challenged his team to play better. Not that it worked, as the Blues have won just once in their past eight outings.
	28 (21)	Ducks	6-9-3	J.S. Giguere wants out of Anaheim. No wonder the way the Ducks are playing. They've lost three in a row and have yet to win more than two straight this season.
	29 (25)	Maple Leafs	3-10-5	The Leafs' brief spasm of life has been replaced by shoddier goaltending and defense as well as a lack of timely scoring. Back in the hunt for a lottery pick. Oh, that's the Bruins' pick. Sorry.
	30 (30)	Hurricanes	3-12-4	Canes win. Canes win. OK, it was just Minnesota, and it went to a shootout. But when you haven't won in more than a month and have gone 14 straight before Sunday's win, you'll take what you can get. Now what?