Welcome everyone to my new weekly analysis of each team’s weekly performance. With what seems to have been a much different week for most teams than last I thought it would be interesting to show where each team has improved, maintained, or regressed in week 2 compared to week 1.
Below you will see each teams’ stats for Week 1 and Week 2, then under that is a table that shows the difference between each week’s performance (Green means good, red means bad).
| Week 1 | ||||||||
| RANK | Team | W | L | OTL | PTS | GF | GA | DIFF |
| 1 | Philadelphia Flyers | 8 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 53 | 34 | 19 |
| 2 | Calgary Flames | 7 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 49 | 19 | 30 |
| 3 | Buffalo Sabres | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 42 | 28 | 14 |
| 4 | San Jose Sharks | 5 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 41 | 47 | -6 |
| 5 | Colorado Avalanche | 4 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 26 | 26 | 0 |
| 6 | Carolina Hurricanes | 4 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 31 | 32 | -1 |
| 7 | Washington Capitals | 4 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 29 | 37 | -8 |
| 8 | Los Angeles Kings | 3 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 25 | 43 | -18 |
| 9 | Vegas Golden Knights | 3 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 29 | 48 | -19 |
| 10 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 2 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 30 | 40 | -10 |
| Week 2 | ||||||||
| RANK | Team | W | L | OTL | PTS | GF | GA | DIFF |
| 1 | San Jose Sharks | 8 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 39 | 22 | 17 |
| 2 | Philadelphia Flyers | 7 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 48 | 26 | 22 |
| 3 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 5 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 32 | 19 | 13 |
| 4 | Carolina Hurricanes | 5 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 24 | 20 | 4 |
| 5 | Buffalo Sabres | 4 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 42 | 35 | 7 |
| 6 | Los Angeles Kings | 4 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 22 | 32 | -10 |
| 7 | Calgary Flames | 4 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 25 | 33 | -8 |
| 8 | Washington Capitals | 4 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 33 | 44 | -11 |
| 9 | Vegas Golden Knights | 3 | 5 | 1 | 7 | 30 | 50 | -20 |
| 10 | Colorado Avalanche | 1 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 21 | 46 | -25 |
Toronto?? WTH?? How’d they pull off 3rd best record of the week??
This table shows the difference in wins, losses, etc… from Week 1 to Week 2. Toronto for example had 3 more wins, 4 less losses, and one more OTL this week compared to Week 1. If I could go back, I would’ve taken out the OTL’s and just counted them as losses but it was critical for the PTS column to make sense to me at the time I thought.
Toronto also scored 2 more goals than last week and allowed 21 less. Substantial performance change for the better in Toronto making them the most improved team in Week 2.
LAK, VGK, WSH, PHI, and BUF all had similar performances to last week, showing more consistent play.
Colorado and Calgary on the other hand, have dropped off considerably from Week 1. Calgary had a +30 Goal Differential in Week 1, but in Week 2 they dropped to a -8 Goal Differential, causing their comparison to be a -38 between the 2 weeks. Somehow Colorado went from scoring the least amount of goals in Week 1 to scoring even less in Week 2. Both these teams had some issues on the ice this week and are looking to regroup to get back to their Week 1 caliber of play.
I know that last week I didn’t write a power rankings article, but for those who listen to the podcast you would’ve heard us say that for the most part, the Regular Season Standings were a fair reflection of the rankings could or should be.
Having said that, here is my take on the power rankings after Week 2, using the Week 1 Standings as the initial bar for the rises and falls of each team.
POWER RANKINGS
| RANK | TEAM | WK 1 | DIFF | RECAP |
| 1 | Philadelphia Flyers | 1 | 0 | The Flyers are dominating the league right now, only sus loss is to the LA Kings but they didn’t have their top guys in for that one. With the top scoring player in the league and “Norris Defenseman” Jon Turner, these guys will tough to knock down from the top in the weeks to come. |
| 2 | San Jose Sharks | 4 | +2 | San Jose has moved from 4 to 2 this week in the power rankings after going 8-1-0 with their only loss coming at the start of the week to Buffalo. The Sharks seemed to have cleaned up their defensive play a bit and maintained solid offense. |
| 3 | Buffalo Sabres | 3 | 0 | Buffalo maintains their #3 spot after week 2, they weren’t quite as good as week 1 but they made a huge trade which could potentially boost this team up to battle with the flyers for the #1 spot. Their 4-3-2 record this week is good enough to keep them at #3 for now. |
| 4 | Carolina Hurricanes | 6 | +2 | Carolina climbs up 2 spots this week after going 5-3-1 (with one loss being a FF). They had availability issues at times during the week so to have a positive record even with the FF is huge for these guys. Keep an eye on the Hurricanes to keep climbing in the standings and take a run at Buffalo and Philadelphia. |
| 5 | Calgary Flames | 2 | -3 | Calgary falls 3 spots this week after starting off real hot in week 1. A 4-5-0 record in week 2 and having a -8 total goal differential in those 9 games makes me wonder if week 1 was just a fluke of favorable matchups? Either way we can chalk this up to an off week for this squad and expect them to come back next week with a positive winning record. |
| 6 | Toronto Maple Leafs | 10 | +4 | Wow, who saw this coming? After Devon selling what seemed every pick he made in the top 4 rounds he has somehow managed to salvage the team (with the help of Curtis) after a disappointing Week 1 and has bounced back in Week 2 with a 5-2-2 record and climbed into the playoff race. Great work over there in Toronto and keep it up. Easy decision to bump them up 4 spots. |
| 7 | Los Angeles Kings | 8 | +1 | LA Kings move up one spot over the Capitals after posting a 4-4-1 record this week and getting a W over the Flyers. Cuban and his Kings are looking to keep improving and maintain their 3rd spot in the West for a playoff appearance which Cuban missed out on last season. |
| 8 | Washington Capitals | 7 | -1 | One of the more disappointing teams so far this season, these guys have a lot of solid players, but it seems things just aren’t clicking over there right now in Washington. They’ve gone 4-5-0 two weeks in a row now and have moved out of a playoff spot. Eggman needs to figure some stuff out here soon before it’s too late and the Leafs take off on him. |
| 9 | Vegas Golden Knights | 9 | 0 | Well, the Golden Knights looked to be the bottom feeders after game 4 this week allowing 33 goals in 4 games (yikes) then Shockr made a bold trade and acquired kylej, sniider, and karlsson from Buffalo. Then they went on to finish the week losing to Philly in OT and beating Buffalo. Keep an eye on these guys next week, they may be building to something better here in Vegas. |
| 10 | Colorado Avalanche | 5 | -5 | Poor Plisk, when it rains it pours in Colorado. Originally ranked #1 for West teams, fell to 5th in the power rankings after Week 1, then only getting 1 win this week puts him at the bottom of the league and 2pts out of a playoff spot. Not all hope is lost yet though with this team, if they get the availability of the right guys more and start getting some chem, these guys could climb back into the playoff picture yet. Only two points out with 27 games to go is more than enough time. |
I hope you enjoyed my nerdy team stats I did up, and the Power Rankings. Take it upon yourselves to explain what the hell happened to your team this week in the public chat, and hit up Pliskin for some pod questions in the #askthecommish section in the discord.
Looking forward to bringing this article back for Week 3 and see who’s getting their shit together and who’s not.
RandyMarsh2012