NHL Week in Review: 10/30-11/5

Daily Headlines
Monday 10/30
  • Boston erases a 2-0 deficit, and Pavel Zacha completes the comeback in overtime as the Bruins defeat the Florida Panthers in a playoff rematch. 
  • Mason McTavish scores on a short-handed breakaway with 13 seconds left to steal a regulation win in Pittsburgh and complete a perfect road trip. 
  • Michael Carcone's hat trick and four points help lead an offensive onslaught as the Coyotes decimate the Blackhawks 8-1. 
Tuesday 10/31
  • Andreas Englund scores his first goal, and Cam Talbot is nearly perfect as the Kings dominate the Maple Leafs in Toronto. 
  • Elias Pettersson continues his hot start with a hat trick as the Canucks rout the Predators 5-2. 
Wednesday 11/1
  • Connor Zary scores his first NHL goal in his first game against Dallas. 
  • Troy Terry caps a hat trick with an overtime winner as the Ducks earn their fifth-straight win with a 4-3 victory over the Coyotes. 
Thursday 11/2
  • Nine players record multi-point nights, led by five from Quinn Hughes, as the Canucks hang ten goals on the San Jose Sharks in a 10-1 win. 
  • Jonathan Marchessault nets a hat trick in a 5-2 win over the Jets to continue Vegas' near-perfect start. 
  • Scott Wedgewood makes 46 saves to help Dallas hang on in a 4-3 victory over the struggling Edmonton Oilers.  
Friday 11/3
  • Jack Hughes goes hard into the boards in the first period and exits the game in New Jersey's 4-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues. 
Saturday 11/4
  • Ryan O'Reilly scores three times in the second period as he and Filip Forsberg finish with four points each in a 5-2 win over Edmonton. 
  • Nino Niederreiter nets a hat trick on the road in Arizona as the Jets beat the Coyotes 5-3. 
  • Auston Matthews is the first player to ten goals with a hat trick against Buffalo, but Alex Tuch scores twice in the third period to beat the Maple Leafs 6-4. 
  • Brayden Points burns the Senators for three goals as the Lightning hold off the Senators. 
  • The Red Wings hand Boston its first regulation loss of the season, beating them 5-4 in Detroit. 
  • Carolina overcomes a 3-0 deficit with two goals in the third period before Sebastian Aho finishes the job in overtime against the Islanders. 
  • Minnesota gets a lucky bounce and two toe saves in the shootout to halt their four-game losing streak against the red-hot New York Rangers in a 5-4 shootout win. 
  • The Sharks allowed ten goals for the second straight game, this time getting routed 10-2 by the Pittsburgh Penguins. 
  • Vegas makes an emphatic statement, dominating the Colorado Avalanche 7-0, moving to 11-0-1. 
Sunday 11/5
  • New Jersey announces Jack Hughes will be week-to-week as the Devils take down the Blackhawks 4-2 in Chicago. 
  • Anaheim scores four goals in the third period to hand Vegas its first regulation loss of the season. 
Team of the Week- Los Angeles Kings
It was a good week for the Pacific Division. Vegas continued its hot start. The Ducks extending their win streak to six games with another 3-0-0 week. Vancouver was also perfect, highlighted by a 10-1 win in San Jose. Ultimately, I picked the Los Angeles Kings, who also went 3-0-0. Vancouver's win over San Jose, while impressive, was against San Jose, the worst team in the league by an incredible margin. Their +9 goal differential was second only to Vancouver, and they tied the Canucks for fewest goals allowed. Cam Talbot was a big reason for that, backstopping all three wins. Quinton Byfield led the way with six points, all assists, half of them coming on the power play. Even more impressive, the Kings won all three games on the road, beating Toronto, Ottawa, and Philadelphia. 

Disappointing Team of the Week- Toronto Maple Leafs
The default answer would be to put San Jose here since they allowed ten goals in consecutive games. That's a new type of awful, but that would be cheating. Instead, I'm calling out the Maple Leafs for their rough week. They were thoroughly outworked at home against Los Angeles, were largely outplayed by Boston, though they managed to steal a point in a shootout loss, and wasted Auston Matthews' third hat trick of the season by blowing the game in the third period. Toronto has lost four straight after a 5-2-0 start. Their defense and lack of depth scoring have been significant issues. Their Core 4 and Morgan Rielly have combined for 28 goals and 63 points. The rest of the team has seven goals and 30 points. This model isn't sustainable. We've seen Edmonton have the same issues in the past. 

Surprising Team of the Week- Arizona Coyotes
I could easily give Anaheim this distinction in consecutive weeks, but for the sake of switching it up, I'm rolling with the Coyotes. While my devotion to the Carolina Hurricanes will never waiver, I enjoy watching the Coyotes play. The young core they've built isn't far from helping them crack the playoffs. They took five of a possible eight points this week, including an emphatic 8-1 win over the Blackhawks on Monday. 12 players had at least four points this week, led by Lawson Crouse with six. 

Three Stars of the Week
3rd Star- Cam Talbot (LAK)- 3-0-0, .963 SV%, 1.00 GAA in 3 games
Cam Talbot had nearly an identical week to my pick for the first star, allowing three goals on 80 shots in three wins for the Kings. He also pitched his first shutout with Los Angeles in a win over the Flyers on Saturday. Talbot is tied for the league lead with six wins as he continues to prove there is plenty left in the tank. 

2nd Star- Roope Hintz (DAL)- 3 goals, 4 assists in 4 games
Finishing tied for second in points and tied for fourth in goals, Roope Hintz had a good week for the Dallas Stars. Hintz needed just seven shots to find the back of the net three times in Dallas' four games. This helped the Stars to a 3-1-0 week as they continued to lead the Central Division. 

1st Star- Thatcher Demko (VAN)- 3-0-0, .966 SV%, 1.00 GAA in 3 games
While there is no shortage of skaters from the Canucks to pick in this spot, Thatcher Demko is as big a part of this team's start as any. Demko was in the net for all three wins this week, allowing three goals on 87 shots, the fourth-most seen this week. He also picked up his second shutout of the season after blanking Dallas on Saturday. 

My Top 16 (* denotes a new entry)
16. Winnipeg Jets (5-4-2 overall, 1-1-1 last week) (-2)
15. Toronto Maple Leafs (5-4-2 overall, 0-2-1 last week) (-9)
14. St. Louis Blues (5-4-1 overall, 2-1-0 last week) (+8)*
13. Tampa Bay Lightning (5-3-3 overall, 1-1-1 last week) (-)
12. New York Islanders (5-2-3 overall, 1-0-2 last week) (-3)
11. Anaheim Ducks (7-4-0 overall, 3-0-0 last week) (+13)*
10. Detroit Red Wings (7-4-1 overall, 2-1-0 last week) (-)
9. Carolina Hurricanes (7-5-0 overall, 2-1-0 last week) (+2)
8. Los Angeles Kings (7-2-2 overall, 3-0-0 last week) (+4)
7. Colorado Avalanche (7-3-0 overall, 1-1-0 last week) (-3)
6. Dallas Stars (7-2-1 overall, 3-1-0 last week) (+1)
5. New Jersey Devils (7-3-1 overall, 2-1-0 last week) (-)
4. Vancouver Canucks (8-2-1 overall, 3-0-0 last week) (+4)
3. New York Rangers (8-2-1 overall, 2-0-1 last week) (-)
2. Boston Bruins (9-1-1 overall, 2-1-0 last week) (-)
1. Vegas Golden Knights (11-1-1 overall, 3-1-0 last week) (-)

There is no major shakeup atop the rankings as Vegas, Boston, and New York remain in the Top 3 spots after near-perfect weeks. The Canucks continue to shoot up the board, riding a perfect week into the #4 spot. New Jersey rounds out the Top 5 by holding steady. Below the Devils, we start to see some movement. The downward movement of the Avalanche, Islanders, and Jets has little to do with their weeks and more to do with how well everyone around them played. Los Angeles and Carolina both got bumps after strong weeks. It was especially noteworthy for the Hurricanes as they started to play like the team we'd hoped they'd be. Anaheim is the week's biggest climber, jumping 13 spots as they ride a league-best six-game win streak. St. Louis also makes its first appearance in the rankings, moving up eight spots. The week's biggest loser was the Toronto Maple Leafs. Falling nine spots, the Maple Leafs had the largest fall anywhere in the rankings. 

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