NHL Week in Review- 11/20-11/26

Daily Headlines

Monday 11/20

• Steven Stamkos ties the game with five seconds left in regulation, and Brandon Hagel finishes the job in overtime, handing Boston a 5-4 overtime loss. 
• Filip Forsberg and Yakov Trenin score 16 seconds apart in the final minute to stun the Colorado Avalanche 4-3 in Nashville. 

Wednesday 11/22

• Zach Benson scores a beautiful between-the-legs goal for the first of his career against Washington in an overtime loss to the Capitals.
• Connor Bedard is the first rookie to ten goals, but #3 pick Adam Fantili gets the final laugh as the Blue Jackets end their nine-game skid with a 7-3 win behind four assists by Zach Werenski. 
• Boston gets some revenge against the Florida Panthers after being knocked out in the playoffs last season, winning 3-1 in Sunrise. 

Friday 11/24

• Detroit storms into Boston and hands them their second regulation loss of the season, 5-2, both against the Red Wings. 
• Jason Dickinson pots his first career NHL hat trick, and then Kevin Korchinski is the overtime hero as the Blackhawks come back from 3-1 down to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3. 
• Brayden Point nets a hat trick, Nikita Kucherov has six points, and Andrei Vasilevskiy returns from injury in a massive 8-2 win in Raleigh over the Hurricanes. 

Saturday 11/25

• Nico Hischier returns from injury with a goal and an assist to help the Devils destroy the Sabres 7-2. 
• Ilya Sorokin and Samuel Ersson fight to a 0-0 draw through 65 minutes, but Tyson Foerster is able to finally find the back of the net in the fourth round of the shootout to take a 1-0 win. 

Sunday 11/26

• Andrei Svechnikov scores his first goal of the season to complete a comeback in the final ten minutes of the game to help Carolina beat Columbus 3-2. 

Team of the Week- Nashville Predators

While it wasn't enough to crack my Top 16 this week, the Nashville Predators were perfect at 4-0-0. They're tied with Los Angeles for the longest active win streak at five games and had some impressive performances during their perfect week. Filip Forsberg had a pair of multi-goal games, leading the team with four goals and six points. Juuse Saros is starting to look like a franchise goalie again, winning all three of his starts, and Kevin Lankinen looked strong in his one start. What's more impressive is who they beat. Three of their four wins came against teams currently in playoff positions in their division. They took one-goal wins against Colorado and Winnipeg and wiped the floor with the Blues in an 8-3 drumming. Add a win over Calgary, and it helped get the Predators back to .500 at 10-10-0. 

Disappointing Team of the Week- Anaheim Ducks

Just about a month ago, I was gushing over the red-hot Anaheim Ducks, who didn't look like they were capable of losing a game. I had them as high as #13 in my rankings. In the last two weeks, they've fallen 13 spots thanks to an ongoing six-game losing streak, including three losses in the last seven days. Mason McTavish and Frank Vatrano have continued to play well, but the rest of the team appears to be struggling. Their goaltending has been especially rough. John Gibson allowed nine goals in losses to Montreal and Los Angeles, and then Lukas Dostal allowed six on Sunday to the Oilers before being yanked. This week won't be any easier, facing Vancouver and Colorado on the road and welcoming Washington to Anaheim. The Ducks have shot down the standings in the Pacific, but there's plenty of time for them to recover. 

Surprising Team of the Week- Columbus Blue Jackets

Last week, Columbus was my Disappointing Team of the Week after going 0-4-0 during a nine-game losing streak. It turns out that was the lowest point of their streak because they had a solid holiday week. They snapped their losing streak with a seven-goal performance against the Chicago Blackhawks. Then, they traveled to New Jersey and held the Devils to just one goal in a 2-1 victory. They were ten minutes away from completing a perfect week in Raleigh, holding a 2-0 lead over the Hurricanes, but Carolina stormed back with three goals in the final ten minutes to win. That doesn't take away from the strong week they had. Johnny Gaudreau started to find his touch, factoring on both goals against the Canes. Zach Werenski had a four-assist game in the win over Chicago. Boone Jenner added three goals. Elvis Merzlikins was phenomenal in all three games. While I don't think Columbus is a threat for the postseason, they could play spoiler throughout the season in the East. 

Three Stars of the Week

3rd Star- Elvis Merzlikins (CBJ)- 2-1-0, .940 SV%, 2.35 GAA in 3 starts

Six goalies across the NHL made three starts this week. Only two of those six allowed fewer goals than Elvis Merzlikins, and he faced nearly 30 more shots than the next closest goalie. Merzlikins turned away 110 of the 117 shots thrown at him, including 40 in Columbus's 3-2 loss to Carolina on Sunday. He added 33 and 37-save performances against Chicago and New Jersey, picking up wins in both contests. It has been a rough few seasons for Merzlikins, but he's finding ways to help Columbus during this rebuild.  

2nd Star- Nikita Kucherov (TBL)- 2 goals, 6 assists in 3 games

His performance against Carolina is what helps Nikita Kucherov's week stand out. After assists in games against Boston and Winnipeg, Kucherov scored two goals and added four assists in Tampa's 8-2 win over the Hurricanes. He did a lot of his damage on the power play, leading the league with five points. Kucherov now sits atop the league with 35 points and is tied with Brock Boeser for the lead in goals with 15. 

1st Star- Connor McDavid (EDM)- 3 goals, 9 assists in 4 games

The Edmonton Oilers are slowly starting to show signs of life, and the same can be said for their captain and superstar, Connor McDavid. He led the league this week with nine assists and 12 points, four more than Kucherov, who had the second-most. After just one assist against Carolina, McDavid posted back-to-back four-assist games against Washington and Anaheim, adding a goal against the Ducks for a five-point night. He's slowly starting to climb up the leaderboard, though there is plenty of competition in front of him. 

My Top 16 (* denotes a new entry)

16. Philadelphia Flyers (11-9-1/1-2-0 last week) (-3)

15. Toronto Maple Leafs (10-6-3/0-1-1 last week) (-6)

14. St. Louis Blues (11-8-1/2-1-0 last week) (+3)*

13. Detroit Red Wings (11-6-3/3-0-0 last week) (+6)*

12. Washington Capitals (10-5-2/1-1-0 last week) (-)

11. Florida Panthers (12-7-1/1-2-0 last week) (-4)

10. Carolina Hurricanes (12-8-0/2-1-0 last week) (+1)

9. Tampa Bay Lightning (10-6-5/2-0-1 last week) (+6)

8. Winnipeg Jets (12-6-2/2-1-0 last week) (+2)

7. Dallas Stars (12-5-2/1-1-1 last week) (-2)

6. Colorado Avalanche (14-6-0/3-1-0 last week) (+2)

5. Los Angeles Kings (13-3-3/3-0-0 last week) (+1)

4. Vancouver Canucks (14-7-1/2-2-0 last week) (-)

3. Vegas Golden Knights (14-5-2/1-1-0 last week) (-)

2. Boston Bruins (14-3-3/1-2-1 last week) (-1)

1. New York Rangers (15-3-1/3-1-0 last week) (+1)

There's a small change at the top this week as the New York Rangers overtook the Boston Bruins for the top spot. The Rangers had a near-perfect week, while the Bruins lost three of their four games, including two in regulation. Both Vegas and Vancouver held in their spots, though the Canucks are starting to come back down to earth a little. Los Angeles joins the Top 5 after a perfect 3-0-0 week and is overtaking Vancouver in the division standings for the moment. The Colorado Avalanche also moved up a few spots after taking the lead in the Central Division with three wins in four games. Dallas fell two spots after a slower week, though their play had less to do with their fall. Inadvertently, I put the five former Southeast Division teams together. Winnipeg, who used to be in Atlanta, moved up the board with a 2-1-0 week. Andrei Vasilevskiy made his return for the Lightning, making a strong team even stronger. Despite their 8-2 loss to Tampa Bay, the Hurricanes put together two strong performances against Edmonton and Columbus to move them up a spot. The Panthers dropped two of their three games this week, moving them down four spots. The Washington Capitals split their schedule, keeping them firmly planted at #12. The Detroit Red Wings are the first of two new teams to the Top 16. Detroit was perfect at 3-0-0, allowing them to make the jump. The St. Louis Blues are the other new addition, winning two of three games to put themselves in a Wild Card spot. The Toronto Maples Leafs couldn't continue their momentum from the NHL Global Series, blowing a 3-1 lead to Chicago and losing to former GM Kyle Dubas and the Penguins over the weekend. Rounding out the Top 16 is the Philadelphia Flyers, who continue to stick around in a tough Metropolitan Division.