NHL Power Rankings: Jets soar into 4 Nations break atop list; Sharks keep sinking

The Sharks are 4-15-1 since the Christmas break and allowed at least six goals in six of their final nine games before the break. They wisely sent promising rookie goalie Yaroslav Askarov back to the AHL as soon as Vitek Vanecek was healthy enough to return, rather than allow him to stay in the NHL and get shelled playing behind the League’s worst defensive team.

The last 11 games before the break were the Hawks’ season in a nutshell – they mixed plenty of effort, decent goaltending and flashes of skill with an inability to close out games. Chicago went 3-3-5 during that stretch, losing three games in overtime and two in shootouts. To say it’s been a tough second season for 2023 No. 1 pick Connor Bedard is putting it mildly.

The Preds have to go down as the biggest disappointment of the season; they’re all but out of the playoff picture after spending big bucks on Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Marchessault. They ended a six-game losing streak in their last game before the break by beating the Buffalo Sabres 6-4. But each of their past four wins, sandwiched around the six losses, required at least six goals to outscore a shaky defense.  

Buffalo won four of its final five games before the break, capping a 10-8-2 showing since Christmas. But there’s no realistic possibility that they’ll be able to avoid an NHL-record 14th straight non-playoff season. It has to be tough for player like Rasmus Dahlin; the first player taken in the 2018 draft is playing for Sweden at the 4 Nations tourney but has yet to take the ice in a playoff game.

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Goaltender Joey Daccord played in each of Seattle’s last five games and 12 of the last 13. He can expect plenty more action when the NHL season resumes next week; with Phillip Grubauer waived in January, the Kraken don’t have another goaltender in their system who has played even one NHL game.

The Flyers unloaded forwards Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee to Calgary at the end of January, and it won’t be surprising if they make some more moves as the NHL Trade Deadline approaches. A 3-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Feb. 8 ended an 0-4-1 slide, but scoring just 14 goals during a 2-6-1 slide before the break is a big indication of where the Flyers’ problems lie.

Sidney Crosby is closing in on an NHL-record 20th consecutive season averaging at least a point a game. He missed the last two games before the break but was the First Star on Wednesday in Canada’s 4-3 overtime win against Sweden in the 4 Nations opener, showing that he’s still got plenty of gas left in the tank at age 37.

The Blues are the epitome of mediocrity. They were a .500 team (16-16-3) at the Christmas break and went 9-10-1 in the 20 games before the 4 Nations break. One big problem has been penalty-killing: The Blues surrendered 18 goals on 45 opportunities (40.0 percent) in their last 20 games and are 30th in the League at 71.3 percent.

Montreal went from being one of the NHL’s hottest teams from late December through mid-January to a club that’s 1-7-1 and has been outscored 37-18 in its past nine games. That includes back-to-back home losses to the New Jersey Devils and Tampa Bay Lighting last weekend in their annual Super Bowl weekend matinee double dip.

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The Ducks aren’t going to make the playoffs, but there’s increasing reason to be optimistic in Anaheim. They’ve won three in a row and six of seven, including back-to-back victories against the Dallas Stars and Los Angeles Kings in which they allowed one goal in each game. GM Pat Verbeek has to decide if he wants to keep veteran goalie John Gibson, who has paired well with Lukas Dostal.

The NHL’s newest team closed out its pre-4 Nations schedule on a high note with a 5-4 shootout win in Washington – one that might have felt a lot better if Utah hadn’t blown a two-goal lead in the third period. Connor Ingram took an Alex Ovechkin blast in the mask in that game and had to leave; there’s no word yet whether he’ll be ready after the break.

The Islanders, especially goalie Ilya Sorokin, looked like a worn-out team in their final game before the break, allowing the Minnesota Wild to score five unanswered goals in a 6-3 win. They’ll be without their most dynamic forward, Mathew Barzal, for at least another month and are missing three regulars on defense. The loss of backup goalie Magnus Hogberg has also hurt.

New York had one third-period comeback win until the final week before the break, when it won three times in a stretch of four games when trailing after two periods. The last one, a 4-3 road win against the Columbus Blue Jackets, may have saved their season after an awful 3-2 loss against Pittsburgh, which was playing without Sidney Crosby.

Boston would have entered the 4 Nations break in a playoff spot if it could have closed out the Vegas Golden Knights after taking a 3-1 lead late in the second period. Instead, the Bruins gave up three straight goals, the last with 1:10 remaining, for a 4-3 loss. They return to the ice with three straight home games, two against non-playoff teams.

Like the Bruins, the Jackets had a chance to be in a playoff spot entering the break but failed to close out an opponent at home. Columbus failed to hold a one-goal lead in the final 20 minutes against the Rangers, allowing the game-winner with less than two minutes remaining. GM Don Waddell says he’ll add players before the trade deadline — and that he’s not interested in more mid-round draft picks.

Four losses in their last five games have dropped the Flames out of a playoff spot in the West. Even worse — after returning to the ice with a home game against San Jose, after which they’ll have just 10 games remaining at Scotiabank Saddledome, Dustin Wolf & Co. hit the road for six games, five of them against teams that are in the top three in their divisions.

The Wings were dead in the water at the Christmas break but own the second wild card in the East six weeks later after changing coaches. They’ve had two seven-game winning streaks under Todd McLellan, largely thanks to the play of goaltender Cam Talbot and fourth-year center Lucas Raymond, who has 26 points (eight goals, 18 assists) in 23 games since the coaching change.

The Senators hold the first wild card in the East despite a lost week in the Sunshine State. Ottawa lost twice to the Lightning and once to the Florida Panthers, getting outscored 14-5 in the process. One good piece of news is that starting goalie Linus Ullmark did return during the trip after missing six weeks with a back injury. Another is that they have just 10 of their last 26 games on the road.

The Canucks hope goalie Thatcher Demko will be ready to go when they begin a five-game road trip against Vegas on Feb. 22. Demko had been rounding into form after missing most of the season with a knee injury, but left in the first period of Vancouver’s 2-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Feb. 8 with what appeared to be a left leg problem. The Canucks say it’s not serious, but who knows?

The Devils have kept their heads above water without starting goalie Jacob Markstrom, who’s been out since Jan. 22 with a knee injury. They’re hoping he’ll be back by the end of February. No. 2 goalie Jake Allen has two shutouts in his absence, including a superb 34-save performance in a 4-0 victory at Montreal on Feb. 8 in New Jersey’s final game before the break.

The Bolts finally looked like they team everyone thought they were going to be, winning four games in six days to move into third place in the Atlantic Division. Andrei Vasilevskiy won all four games, including both ends of his first back-to-back since 2022. The schedule should help them stay hot – Tampa Bay plays its next three games and six of the next eight at home, where it is 18-7-2.

The Avs have done just fine since the blockbuster trade that sent Mikko Rantanen to the Carolina Hurricanes on Jan. 24. They’ve won five of eight games, including a two-game sweep in Alberta, and are threatening to get into the top three in the Central Division. Martin Necas, the big part of the package that came from the ‘Canes, has four goals and nine points in the eight games while playing with NHL scoring leader Nathan MacKinnon.

Los Angeles hit the break on a 3-0-1 run, and the news gets better when play resumes: 19 of the Kings’ next 27 games are at Crypto.com Arena, where they are 17-3-2. The time at home will be welcome for a team that had two seven-game trips before Christmas and a pair of five-gamers in January on the way to a 12-14-5 mark on the road. The Kings have 29 games remaining, the most in the NHL.

Minnesota came up with two of its best efforts in its final two games before the break, shutting down Carolina 2-1 and defeating the Islanders 6-3. The Wild play five of their next seven games on the road, where they are 20-7-3, before playing seven in a row and 10 of 11 at Xcel Energy Center, where they’ve won just 13 of their first 26 games and need to improve to avoid dropping out of the top three in the Central Division.

William Nylander leads the Leafs with 33 goals in 55 games and is on pace to shatter his personal high of 40, which he’s reached in each of the past two seasons. He helped the Leafs begin a tough stretch of road games by going 3-1-0 on a swing through Western Canada and Seattle; Toronto resumes play with a home game against Carolina before playing seven of eight away from home.

Florida reached the break on top of the Atlantic Division by winning five of its final six games. The defending Stanley Cup champs are riding a heater by Matthew Tkachuk, who has scored seven times during a six-game goal streak and has 13 points in a six-game point streak. The Panthers have won five in a row at home, where they play six of their next seven games.

The Hurricanes ended a three-game losing streak by thumping Utah 7-3 in their final game before the break. But losing to three of the NHL’s top-10 teams (the Kings, Jets and Wild) before that isn’t a positive sign for a good team that may not be good enough to challenge for the Cup. More is needed from Rantanen, acquired from Colorado in the blockbuster trade on Jan. 24 — he has a goal and an assist in six games.

Jack Eichel continues on the path toward a career year, and he’s bringing the Golden Knights along with him. The first-line center for Team USA at the 4 Nations tournament has already exceeded last season’s point total and is on pace for his first 100-point season. Eichel had a goal in Vegas’ 3-1 win at New Jersey and the primary assist on the game-winner in a 4-3 victory at Boston before the break.

The 4 Nations tournament is billed as “best-on-best” hockey, but it doesn’t have the NHL’s best goal-scorer. Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl, a native of Germany, is the runaway leader in goals with 40 (no one else has more than 33) and is second in points with 83, four behind Colorado’s MacKinnon. He has five goals and nine points during a six-game points streak, helping the Oilers move into first place in the Pacific Division.

Starter Jake Oettinger gets most of the attention in Dallas, but backup Casey DeSmith is quietly having a fine season in his limited role. He’s won each of his past three starts, is 9-6-0 with a 2.50 goals-against average and .911 save percentage, and has two shutouts. The Stars ended their pre-break play with a swing through California; they resume with a three-game tour of the New York metropolitan area before returning home on Feb. 28.

While Ovechkin continues what the NHL calls the “Gr8 Chase” — his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goal-scoring record — the Capitals are quietly running away with first place in the Metropolitan Division. They lead second-place Carolina by 10 points with a game in hand. That’s partly because Washington has lost a League-low 11 times in regulation, meaning the Caps have points in 44 of their 55 games.

The NHL’s winningest team will be spending a lot of time on the road after play resumes; the Jets play seven of their next nine games away from home. Winnipeg continues to ride the NHL’s most prolific offense and the play of Connor Hellebuyck, who’s won six in a row and 10 of his last 11 starts on his way to what figures to be a second straight Vezina Trophy as the League’s best goaltender.