2009 NHL Power Rankings: Week 4

by: CoreyS On Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Total Pro Sports – This week we see an Eastern team fall from grace and another start to play up to expectations and climb up the standings. Plus, the Leafs still looking for the ever elusive first win of the season.

The biggest loser in our NHL Power Rankings this week were the New York Rangers and Atlanta Thrashers both falling 4 spots to end up at #5 and #19 respectively. The Rangers lack of a solid veteran presence seems to be hurting them while young goaltender Ondrej Pavelec has cooled off for the Thrashers and the injury to Ilya Kovalchuk wont help matters.

The biggest gainer in our NHL Power Rankings this week were the Washington Capitals and Montreal Canadiens both moving up 3 spots to land at #13 and #24. The Capitals have been getting some solid goaltending from both Jose Theodore and Semyon Varlamov while Michael Cammalleri has been able to find his goal scoring touch for the Canadiens.

Lets take a look at the rest of the league: NHL POWER RANKINGS for week 4.

Rank	Record	PRV	Comment
1	9-2-0	1	Have managed to keep rolling along although the injury to Sergei Gonchar could really hurt them like it did last year.
2	8-1-2	2	Somebody forgot to tell these guys that they were supposed to be one of the worse teams in the NHL. Both Wojtek Wolski and Paul Stastny are big reasons why as they’ve combined for 20 points in the first 11 games of the season.
3	7-2-1	2	Continue to fill the net with pucks scoring 11 goals in their 2 games last week. This week is another short week but will be a good test as they face the Avalanche and Red Wings.
4	6-4-0	1	Rick Nash is off to a great start collecting 6 goals and 9 assists for 15 points in the Blue Jackets first 10 games.
5	7-3-1	4	Rough week losing to the Sharks, Devils and Canadiens while giving up a combined 16 goals against.
6	8-4-0	2	The Kings early up and down season continues as they beat the Stars in back-to-back games while also coming out victorious over the Coyotes and Blue Jackets.
7	5-3-1	-	Highly touted rookie forward James van Riemsdyk scored his first career NHL goal in the Flyers 5-1 win over the Panthers on Saturday night.
8	6-3-1	2	Cristobal Huet picked up his first shutout of the season in the Blackhawks 2-0 win over the Predators on Saturday night.
9	7-4-1	1	Patrick Marleau is enjoying another solid season so far as he’s collected 9 points in his last 4 games.
10	6-4-1	1	On a bit of a mini-slide after losing their last 2 games in-a-row to Calgary and Vancouver.
11	6-1-1	2	The Sabres continue to surprise/impress winning both of their games last week.
12	6-3-0	2	Are starting to play like the New Jersey Devils we’ve all grown to love as they’ve won 4 of their last 5 games.
13	6-2-2	3	The Capitals have started to find their stride and Alexander Ovechkin is hovering around the 50 goals in 50 games mark.
14	6-3-0	3	Saw their 4 game win streak come to an end with their 5-3 loss against the Kings.
15	5-2-2	3	Tough week losing both of their games to the Predators and Bruins.
16	3-5-1	1	It will be up to Jonas Hiller to provide some solid goaltending as Jean-Sebastien Giguere is out after re-injuring his groin.
17	3-4-2	1	The Wings will have to tighten up on D and get some better goaltending if they want to string together some wins and climb up the standings.
18	3-3-3	1	Coming off their big break goaltender Mike Smith seems to have benefited the most as he looked good in both of Tampa’s games last week.
19	4-3-1	4	Not only did the Thrashers lose all 3 of their game last week, but Ilya Kovalchuk left Saturday’s game after getting hit in the foot with the puck and did not return.
20	6-5-0	1	Roberto Luongo is starting to turn his play around after two solid games against the Leafs and shutting out the Oilers Sunday night.
21	5-4-1	1	Good week for the Bruins as they collected 5 out of a possible 6 points.
22	5-2-4	1	Brad Richards has enjoyed a great start to the season so far collecting 13 points in 9 games.
23	4-4-1	3	Despite the bad week, rookie defenceman Alex Pietrangelo scored his first career NHL goal in the Blues 4-1 loss to the Stars.
24	5-5-0	3	Great week for the Habs including Michael Cammalleri who was finally able to find his scoring touch collecting 6 points including a hat-trick in Montreal’s 5-4 OT win over the Rangers.
25	3-6-1	1	Managed to come out with a 6-5 OT win over Ottawa but then came up flat losing 2-0 to Chicago.
26	3-7-0	2	Were able to pick up two wins over the Avalanche and Hurricanes.
27	2-6-1	2	Bad week for the Panthers as they lost all 3 of their games.
28	2-5-3	2	Currently find themselves on a 6 game losing streak.
29	1-4-4	-	The Islanders young forwards have been playing pretty well so far this season, however their defence and goaltending have been suspect.
30	0-7-1	-	Lost their only game of the week 3-1 to Vancouver. The only positive is that the players worked hard for the full 60 minutes and didn’t quit when they were down 2-0.