NHL Weekly Recap: Novemeber 7
As another week in the NHL wraps up, the rise and fall of teams across the league continues.
The league-leading Panthers continue to strive against opponents despite a shootout loss to the Bruins. Florida has been able to bounce back to restart its win streak - handing Carolina its first loss of the season.
The Hurricanes may be second to the Panthers, but lead the Metropolitan Division by three wins.
Goaltender Frederik Anderson is one of the key factors to Carolina’s success. Anderson is among the top goalies in the league, with a 1.83 Goals Against Average.
The Flyers and Rangers are still in the hunt for the division, but the Rangers will have a tough matchup hosting the Panthers, which may open up a spot for Philadelphia to move up the ranks.
Starting goaltender Carter Hart may take a seat in the upcoming matchups as his GAA grows larger than two. He has two shutouts under his belt already, but Martin Jones leads the league in save percentage at .950.
The Maple Leafs will visit Philadelphia in hopes to grow closer to the Atlantic Division leader. Toronto is currently on a five-game winning streak which helps close the gap between itself and the Panthers, as well as separating itself from the reigning-champion Lightning.
Bringing up the rear in the Atlantic Division, is the Montreal Canadiens. With only a staggering three wins, it is hard to believe this team was once in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Meanwhile in the Pacific Division, the Oilers and Flames battle for the lead, being separated by only one point.
Oilers’ centers Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid lead the entire league in points, goals and assists, and this duo, alone, makes for a tough offense to beat.
For Calgary, Elias Lindholm leads the team in goals. However, Lindholm has recently gone dry in his last five games, forcing teammate Matthew Tkachuk to step up.
Tkachuk has scored in four of his last five games, but the Flames have been plagued by a few overtime losses.
The lead for the pacific is tight, but seems out of reach for the Seattle Kraken, who trail the top spot by nine points.
The Kraken have lost three of their past five games, but they still rank higher than Chicago, Arizona and Montreal.
The Kraken beat the Sabres with a hat trick from Jordan Eberle, but it was not enough to push them past another bottom team, the Arizona Coyotes.
Arizona and Chicago battle for the last spot in the Central Division. The Coyotes were able to edge out a win, their first of the season over Seattle, but still only have three points total.
The Chicago Blackhawks have a mere four points with one less loss than Arizona.
The front seems so far in a division that is run by St. Louis, Minnesota and Winnipeg.
These three teams are separated by only a point, making for a tight race and a competitive game when St. Louis travels to Winnipeg this week.
As divisional games occur this week, more teams will rise and fall, and while it may still be early, playoff contenders will continue to emerge.
Meghan Strange is a first-year majoring in journalism. To contact her, email mgs5649@psu.edu.
