In Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins, the Isles found themselves getting out-hit and out-played throughout the first 59 minutes of the game, and when Rick DiPietro attempted to salvage some dignity for his team in the final minute, he wound up on the receiving end of the hardest shot delivered all game, courtesy of Brent Johnson’s fist.

With less than 30 seconds remaining in the game and the Penguins leading 3-0, DiPietro left his crease to run a little interference on a forechecking Matt Cooke.  His antics didn’t go unnoticed as they irked Johnson, who skated all the way down the ice from the Penguins’ goal to take on DiPietro in a fight.  However, that fight would end after just one punch as Johnson KO’d the Islanders’ netminder with one stiff left to the jaw.  DiPietro immediately left the ice to receive some medical attention for his bruised face as both goalies were assessed fighting majors and game misconducts.

For Johnson, the ejection with only 17 seconds remaining would prevent him from recording his 15th career shutout, but it was a sacrifice he had to make in order to earn his first even NHL knockout.  And with a few more starts he may be able to catch up to teammate Deryk Engelland by the end of the season.

Total Pro Sports – This week’s NHL Power Rankings sees two new teams crack the Top 10 with two Southern teams making fairly big jumps up the rankings as well.

NHL Power Rankings Movers And Shakers

The biggest Shakers in our NHL Power Rankings this week were the Pittsburgh Penguins falling down 5 spots to end up at #10.

The second biggest shaker was the Minnesota Wild and St.Louis Blues both moving down 4 spots. The Wild now sit at #16 while the Blues have slipped to #25.

The biggest Movers in our NHL Power Rankings this week were the Florida Panthers shooting up 6 spots to land at #19.

Lets take a look at the rest of the league: NHL POWER RANKINGS for Week 10.

Rank	Team	Record	Change	Comment
1		24-3-2	-	Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, and Devin Setoguchi have combined for 101 points in just 29 games.
2		21-5-4	-	Phil Kessel had a strong week with 8 points. David Krejci has been a nice surprise for the Bruins with 29 points in 30 games so far.
3		20-5-4	-	Detroit’s big three of Marian Hossa, Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk have combined for 85 points in 29 games so far this season.
4		20-11-2	-	Nikolai Zherdev has been loving life as a Ranger. He put up 5 points last week and now has 30 points on the season.
5		18-10-3	5	The Capitals got some solid goaltending from Brent Johnson and Simeon Varlamov as they won all three of their games. Alexander Ovechkin now has 40 points on the season.
6		16-7-6	5	Mike Richards had a big week collecting 6 points and is now tied with Simon Gagne for the team lead with 34.
7		17-11-3	-	Solid week beating the Blues and Wild.
8		17-11-3	-	Have managed better than most people thought they would putting together a 4-5-1 record while Roberto Luongo has been on the shelf.
9		16-8-5	3	Andrei Markov is enjoying an all-star like season so far with 24 points and a plus-7 rating in 29 games.
10		16-10-4	5	Big week for Petr Sykora putting up 8 points. Those points didn’t help in the long run though as the Penguins only won one of their four games last week.
11		15-6-7	3	Big week for the Blackhawks winning all three of their games.
12		16-11-3	3	A week to forget for the Flames as they lost all three of their games to the Canadiens, Red Wings and Panthers.
13		16-9-2	-	Good week for the Devils as they won two of their three games and Brian Gionta put up 6 points.
14		15-12-3	1	Not a great week for the Predators losing three of their four games.
15		15-12-3	3	Thomas Vanek just keeps scoring potting 5 goals last week helping the Sabres win three of their four games.
16		15-13-1	4	Lost all three of their games last week. Their inability to score seems to becoming an issue.
17		13-12-5	1	Lost both of their games last week including blowing a 5-1 lead to the Flyers.
18		14-13-3	4	Solid week for the Coyotes collecting 5 out of a possible 6 points.
19		14-13-3	6	A much needed big week for the Panthers winning three of their four games.
20		14-12-2	3	So-so week losing to the Panthers and beating the Canucks. Dwayne Roloson appears to be re-establishing himself as the team’s #1 goaltender.
21		13-12-4	2	Dustin Brown with a good week scoring 3 goals and 2 assists for 5 points.
22		14-14-1	2	An okay week beating the Kings then losing to the Blackhawks.
23		13-14-3	-	Good week for the Jackets beating the Predators and Islanders.
24		11-12-6	3	Won both of their games against the Islanders and Sabres last week. Did they find two diamonds in the rough with Jeremy Williams and Jamie Sifers? Only time will tell.
25		12-14-3	4	Big week for two of the newer Blues with B.J. Crombeen putting up 6 points and Alexander Steen posting 4 points.
26		11-12-5	2	Less than stellar week losing three of their four games.
27		11-14-4	1	With Sean Avery and his baggage now gone from Big D it’ll be interesting to see if they can turn their season around.
28		10-18-2	-	The Islanders have now lost 6 games in a row. Mid as well pencil in one of Victor Hedman or John Tavares into their lineup now.
29		9-16-4	-	Lost all three of their games last week and have lost 8 of their last 9.
30		7-15-8	-	Could the Lightning fire two coaches in the same season? It might happen if they keep playing like they have been.

Be sure to check back next week with our NHL Power Rankings for Week 11.

Week: | 1-2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

Total Pro Sports – Things have seemed to settle down a bit in this week’s NHL Power Rankings as 9 teams remain in the top 10 from last week with the Wild dropping out and the Flames moving in.

NHL Power Rankings Movers And Shakers

The biggest Shakers in our NHL Power Rankings this week were the Toronto Maple Leafs moving down 5 spots landing at #27.

The second biggest shaker was the Columbus Blue Jackets also falling 5 spots to end up at #23.

The biggest Movers in our NHL Power Rankings this week were the Edmonton Oilers climbing up 4 spots to sit at #17.

Lets take a look at the rest of the league: NHL POWER RANKINGS for Week 9.

Rank	Team	Record	Previous	Comment
1		22-3-2	-	The machine just keeps on runnin’. JoeThornton is now leading the team with 32 points while Dan Boyle leads the defence with 24 points.
2		18-4-4	-	Seems like their determined to prove that this isn’t a fluke. They outscored their opponents 7-1 in their two games last week.
3		18-4-4	1	Bounced back from a so-so week by winning all three of their games. Marian Hossa now leads the team in points again with 29.
4		18-10-2	1	Seem to be going through a bit of a rough patch losing two of their three games last week and scoring just 6 goals in those three games.
5		15-7-4	-	Up until last week Dany Sabourin had done a great job filling in for the injured Marc-Andre Fleury, but he might be slowing down a bit after a not so great week.
6		15-6-5	2	Solid week for the Habs collecting 5 out of a possible 6 points. Saku Koivu continues to lead the team with 22 points.
7		15-10-3	1	Ryan Getzlaf continuing his great play now leading the Ducks with 34 points in 27 games.
8		15-10-3	1	The Sedin twins are keeping up with their solid play scoring a combined 53 points in 28 games.
9		16-10-1	2	Good week for the Flames winning two of their three games and Jarome Iginla continues to lead the team with 32 points.
10		15-10-3	-	An alright week for the Caps going 2-2. Bruce Boudreau splitting starts between Jose Theodore and Brent Johnson seems to be working so far.
11		13-7-6	2	Philly seems to be hitting their stride winning 8 of their last 11 games.
12		15-10-1	3	The surprising Mikko Koivu is maintaining his point per game pace with 29 in 26 games.
13		14-8-2	1	Devils managed to win both of their games in Overtime last week. Scott Clemmensen seems to be on a hot streak right now, only question is how long will it last?
14		12-6-7	-	The Blackhawks’ young players are continuing to put up good numbers and Jonathan Toews scored a highlight reel goal against Detroit on Saturday.
15		14-10-2	2	Won all three of their games last week and Shea Weber is continuing his impressive play with 25 points and a plus-12 rating.
16		13-12-3	1	Looks like the Canes will need more than just a coaching change to get things back on track.
17		13-11-2	4	The up and down season continues for this young team winning all three of their games last week.
18		12-11-3	2	Thomas Vanek is trying his best to get wins for his team as he’s leading the league with 20 goals.
19		11-11-4	-	Disappointing week for the Kings losing to the Leafs, Coyotes and then the Oilers in Overtime.
20		13-13-1	3	Good week for the Avs going 2-1-1. Surprise, surprise, Paul Stastny still leads the team with 24 points.
21		11-11-3	1	Brad Boyes leads the team with 25 points and Carlo Colaiacovo has looked good since coming over in a trade with the Leafs.
22		12-13-2	2	An okay week for the soon to be extinct Yotes going 2-2. Their captain Shane Doan leads the team with 26 points.
23		11-13-3	5	Kristian Huselius and Derrick Brassard are finally giving Nash some secondary scoring but so far it doesn’t seem like it’ll be enough to push them into the 8th spot in the West.
24		10-10-4	2	Thanks to some solid goaltending and the improved play of Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza the Sens got two big wins last week.
25		11-12-3	2	Good week for the Panthers going 2-1. Jay Bouwmeester has picked up his play lately and now leads the team with 16 points.
26		10-12-4	2	Just like the Panthers, the Stars went 2-1. Despite their bad record they’ve been getting widespread scoring as Mike Modano, Mike Ribeiro, Loui Eriksson and Brad Richards all have 20+ points.
27		9-12-6	5	Disappointing West Coast trip losing to the Sharks and Coyotes then come up flat against the Capitals on Saturday night.
28		10-14-2	3	Horrible week losing both of their games while being outscored 10-3
29		9-14-3	-	Ilya Kovalchuk has picked up his play of late leading the team with 26 points. It’s just too bad the rest of the team isn’t following suit.
30		6-12-8	-	Nothing going right for the Lightning right now. They only have one win in their last 13 games…I repeat one win in their last 13 games.

Be sure to check back next week with our NHL Power Rankings for Week 10.

Therefore, this week’s honourable mention goes to goaltender Steve Mason of the Columbus Blue Jackets. Mason went 3-0-0 while posting a 2.60 GAA and .907 SAV%. If his solid play continues it’ll make things interesting when Leclaire returns from injury.

Lets take a look at the NHL Fantasy 3 Stars for Week 5.

3rd Star – Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames

This guy is turning out to be a fantasy stud yet again. Iggy had 7 points (4 goals & 3 assists) and 12 SOG in 4 games. Four of those points, all goals,  came on the powerplay. I would not be surprised if Jarome ended up being a better fantasy player than Ovechkin this year, especially if you have PIM as a category in your league.

2nd Star – Brent Johnson, Washington Capitals

No, that isn’t a typo, Brent Johnson is indeed this week’s 2nd Star. Johnson provided something the Capitals had yet to receive this season…solid goaltending. Brent went 2-0-1 with a 1.67 GAA and a .949 SAV%. With Johnson having this nice little hot streak it makes his fantasy value a tricky question. On one hand it wouldn’t surprise anyone if he plays like crap this week or next week. On the other he proved when he came into the league with St.Louis he showed that he is capable of playing some good hockey and he could legitimately become the Capitals outright #1. Right now I’d say if you’re a Brent Johnson owner that you should hold onto him for now. If he’s available on the waiver wire in your league and you’re weak in goal you should definitely pick him up.

1st Star – Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks

I’m sure you knew who the 1st Star was going to be by just reading the title, so this obviously doesn’t come as a big surprise. Bobby Lou went 3-0-0 with a 0.00 GAA and a 1.000 SAV%. That’s right, he won all three of his games via shutout. He faced 81 shots without allowing a goal. If that’s not impressive I don’t know what is. I was a bit iffy on Luongo coming into the season because he plays for Vancouver, but so far he’s been the best goalie in fantasy. If you own Luongo hold onto him for dear life and don’t let him go!

Remember to check back in next week to see who the NHL Fantasy 3 Stars will be for Week 6.