NHL Week in Review: 12/11-12/17

Daily Headlines

Monday 12/11

• The league suspends Erik Gudbranson (1 game) and David Perron (6 games) for incidents that occurred over the weekend. 
• John Tavares joins the ranks of players to record 1,000 points in his career against his former team, but Bo Horvat spoils the party in overtime to help the Islanders beat the Maple Leafs 4-3. 

Tuesday 12/12

• Auston Matthews scores two goals and adds two assists, and Mitch Marner scores twice as the Maple Leafs go off at Madison Square Garden in a 7-3 win. 
• Sebastian Aho scores two goals and an assist in just over five minutes in the second period to help the Hurricanes end a four-game skid with a 4-1 win in Ottawa.
• McDavid (2A) gets the best of Bedard (1G) as the battle of generational Connors goes in the Oilers' favor 4-1 over the Blackhawks. 
• Brock Boeser's natural hat trick helps the Canucks pull away from the Lightning for a 4-1 win. 
• The St. Louis Blues fire Head Coach Craig Berube after a 13-14-1 start. 

Wednesday 12/13

• Jack Hughes' overtime winner helps the Devils complete a 2-1 comeback win over the Boston Bruins. 
• Gabe Villardi returns to Los Angeles and puts up four points against his former team as the Jets fly past the Kings 5-2. 

Thursday 12/14

• Auston Matthews scores twice in the final 75 seconds to help Toronto erase a 5-0 deficit, but Kent Johnson kills the comeback with the winner in overtime to take two points from the Leafs.
• Steven Stamkos records his first career four-goal game, helping the Bolts to a 7-4 win to halt the Edmonton Oilers' win streak. 
• The St. Louis Blues held interim coach Drew Bannister record his first win as a coach by taking down the Ottawa Senators 4-2. 

Friday 12/15

• 11 different players find the back of the net, including six in the second period, as Filip Forsberg finishes a wild game in overtime to secure a 6-5 win for the Predators over the Hurricanes. 
• Chris Kreider scores twice for the Rangers, reaching 500 points for his career in a lopsided 5-1 win over the Ducks. 

Saturday 12/16

• Vincent Trocheck provides all the offense the Rangers need, breaking Jeremy Swayman's shutout in the third period and scoring in overtime to secure two points against the Bruins in a battle of the East's best. 
• Jack Hughes finds the back of the net three times as the Devils take down the Blue Jackets in Columbus 6-3. 
• Backed by an offensive explosion, Martin Jones stops all 38 shots the Penguins throw at home in a 7-0 win for the Maple Leafs. 

Sunday 12/17

• Adam Henrique scores the first hat trick of his career, helping the Ducks get a huge upset win 5-1 in New Jersey.  

Team of the Week- Vancouver Canucks

It's amazing that Vancouver has been #4 in my rankings for the last seven weeks and hasn't ever been my Team of the Week. They were nearly perfect this week, suffering a shootout loss to the Wild on Saturday to spoil it. Thatcher Demko continued his excellent start, winning his three starts during the week, shutting out the Panthers, and allowing just four goals on 93 shots. Casey DeSmith was great despite the shootout loss, stopping 30 shots against the Wild. Brock Boeser remains tied atop the league in goals, scoring five in four games, including a hat trick against Tampa Bay on Tuesday. JT Miller tied Boeser for with five points, all assists, as he sits third in the league in scoring. Dakota Joshua had a surprising week, scoring three goals and four points. They remain on the heels of the defending champions atop the Pacific Division, so they're in striking distance. 

Disappointing Team of the Week- Ottawa Senators

Entering the week, the Senators were 11-11-0 with a ton of games in hand on the teams ahead of them to try and close the gap. They were beginning their week with a Carolina team struggling during their road trip. They had all the chances in the world to capitalize on their misfortunes. Instead, the Canes jumped them 4-1, kickstarting a 0-4-0 week for the Senators. They did have a tough road trip, losing in St. Louis, Dallas, and Vegas. Their struggles to keep the puck out of their net continued, allowing the third most goals per game. Joonas Korpisalo finished with a 4.71 GAA GAA in three starts. It all came at the expense of some decent offensive performances. Jakob Chychrun led the way with six assists. Josh Norris scored three goals. Drake Batherson had two goals and four points. They still have plenty of games in hand, but things aren't looking good for Ottawa. 

Surprising Team of the Week- Seattle Kraken

The Kraken shocked the world last season by making the playoffs and defeating Colorado in the first round. This season, things have been a little rockier. They haven't gotten off to a good start but have gotten help from their numerous overtime losses. This week, the performances of Joey Daccord helped the Kraken to a 2-0-1 record. He allowed three goals on 84 shots, helping the Kraken allow the fewest goals per game this week. Daccord was phenomenal, but the team in front of him was pretty good, too. Rookie Ryker Evans scored his first NHL point on Tuesday to begin a three-game assist streak. Kailer Yamamoto led the team with three goals, and 11 players had multi-point weeks. They are still in the race for a Wild Card spot, but they need more wins like this to remain afloat with several others in contention. 

Three Stars of the Week

3rd Star- Noah Dobson (NYI)- 0 goals, 8 assists in 4 games

The Islanders remain present near the top of the Metropolitan Division, largely thanks to the performances of their stars. Noah Dobson led the league with eight assists, contributing three multi-assist games. He had two three-assist games against Toronto and Montreal. He's tied with Mathew Barzal for the team lead in points with 32. He's also among the top defensemen in the league in assists and points.

2nd Star- Mitch Marner (TOR)- 4 goals, 5 assists in 4 games

It was a very interesting week for the Maple Leafs. Mitch Marner led the way by finishing second in the league in points (9), scoring at least one point in all four of Toronto's games this week. He had consecutive three-point games, scoring two goals against the Rangers and two assists against Columbus. He's starting to show the signs of the near-100-point scorer from years prior. 

1st Star- Nathan MacKinnon (COL)- 3 goals, 7 assists in 4 games

The top of the list this week belongs to Nathan MacKinnon after his league-leading ten points. He was second to Dobson in assists, five of which came on the power play, the most in the league. MacKinnon had multi-point games in all four of Colorado's outings, capping his week with a two-goal, four-point performance against San Jose on Sunday. 

My Top 16 (* denotes a new entry)

16. Detroit Red Wings (15-11-4/1-3-0 last week) (-5)

15. New Jersey Devils (16-12-1/2-1-0 last week) (-)

14. Washington Capitals (15-9-4/1-1-1 last week) (-)

13. New York Islanders (14-8-8/2-1-1 last week) (-)

12. Nashville Predators (18-13-0/3-0-0 last week) (+5)*

11. Florida Panthers (18-10-2/1-2-0 last week) (-4)

10. Philadelphia Flyers (17-10-3/2-0-1 last week) (+2)

9. Toronto Maple Leafs (16-6-6/2-0-2 last week) (+1)

8. Dallas Stars (17-8-4/2-0-1 last week) (+1)

7. Winnipeg Jets (18-9-2/2-1-0 last week) (-1) 

6. Colorado Avalanche (19-10-2/3-1-0 last week) (+2)

5. Los Angeles Kings (17-6-4/1-1-0 last week) (-)

4. Vancouver Canucks (21-9-2/3-0-1 last week) (-)

3. Boston Bruins (19-5-5/1-0-2 last week) (-2)

2. Vegas Golden Knights (21-6-5/2-1-0 last week) (-)

1. New York Rangers (21-7-1/2-1-0 last week) (+2)

The rotation at the top of the rankings continued this week as the New York Rangers claimed the top spot once again. Their win over the Boston Bruins on Saturday helped them jump the Bruins, who moved down the #3, where the Rangers were last week. Sandwiched between them is the Vegas Golden Knights, who won two of their three contests with the help of Jack Eichel's ten-game point streak. Vancouver and Los Angeles remain at #4 and #5 for the fourth straight week. Vancouver picked up seven of eight points, while Los Angeles split their two games. 

There's a logjam in the Central Divison with Colorado, Winnipeg, and Dallas all struggling to separate. The Avalanche scored the second-most goals in the league (19). The Jets started their week with a loss to San Jose but recovered by outscoring Los Angeles and Colorado 11-4. The Stars have an identical points percentage with the Jets, but an injury to Jake Oettinger will make the next little bit interesting. 

Toronto nearly completed one of the best comebacks of the last several years when they erased a 5-0 deficit in the third period against Columbus before falling in overtime. They scored 22 goals this week to lead the league, including an emphatic 7-0 victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday. The Flyers don't look like they're going anywhere, as they sit second in the Metropolitan Division. They are getting it done defensively, allowing the fewest goals of any team in the division (79). The Panthers took a small step down this week, dropping four spots after consecutive shutout losses to Seattle and Vancouver before beating Edmonton on Saturday. The Nashville Predators moved up the most spots of anyone in the rankings this week, getting two great performances from Juuse Saros and back-to-back overtime wins over Philadelphia and Carolina. 

The Islanders, Capitals, and Devils all stayed in their spots after near-identical weeks. The Islanders started the week strong, with wins over Toronto and Anaheim before a shootout loss to Boston and a two-goal loss to Montreal. The Capitals took two trips to the shootout, losing to Philadelphia and beating Carolina, with a loss to Nashville in regulation between them. Despite laying an egg against the Ducks on Sunday, they earned an overtime win over Boston earlier in the week. The Red Wings round out the Top 16 after dropping five spots during a 1-3-0 week. They split an early-week back-to-back before the offense went cold in losses to Carolina and Philadelphia.