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Thought last season's emergence of the Colorado Avalanche was a fluke? Think again. The Avalanche, powered by sophomore Matt Duchene's emergence as one of the best scorers in the NHL, have peeled off six straight wins. When power forward Chris Stewart went down with a broken hand, some wondered if his loss would crush the team. However, Duchene - who is just 19-years old - has been red hot, and had four goals and seven points in three games before being blanked against Montreal Sunday. Here are this week's sportsnet.ca Power Rankings: |
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| TW | LW | Team | Our Take |
| 1 | 3 | 
(22-8-5) |
Even losing star defenceman Chris Pronger with a broken foot isn't enough to slow down the Big Orange Machine which has won five straight. |
| 2 | 2 | 
(20-8-4) |
The Dallas Stars beat the Red Wings 4-3 in OT to deny veteran goaltender Chris Osgood from securing his 400th career win. |
| 3 | 1 | 
(22-10-2) |
After winning 12 straight, the Penguins have suddenly dropped two in a row, but Sidney Crosby's point streak remains alive at 20 games. |
| 4 | 14 | 
(19-10-4) |
The NHL's highest scoring-team, (even without injured Chris Stewart,) has peeled off six straight wins. |
| 5 | 9 | 
(20-10-3) |
The team that was supposed to have trouble scoring this season suddenly has two players (Brad Richards, Loui Eriksson) among the league's top-12 scorers. |
| 6 | 12 | 
(19-11-5) |
Eric Boulton scores his first career hat trick leading the Thrashers to a 7-1 drubbing of New Jersey. (Take that Ilya Kovalchuk!) |
| 7 | 6 | 
(20-14-1) |
The Rangers showed great comeback power winning two straight with third period surges before dropping a bitter 4-1 decision to the Flyers Saturday. |
| 8 | 5 | 
(19-12-4) |
Finally! After losing eight in a row, the Capitals beat the struggling Ottawa Senators in a nail-biter. |
| 9 | 8 | 
(18-8-4) |
While there's plenty of room for improvement in their overall team, the Canucks have managed to string together three straight wins including their eighth straight against Toronto. |
| 10 | 10 | 
(19-10-4) |
Steven Stamkos's 25th goal of the season helped the Lightning win their third straight. |
| 11 | 16 | 
(17-9-6) |
The Predators rolled off five straight victories before having their lunch handed to them by the Kings. |
| 12 | 17 | 
(17-11-5) |
Rookie Logan Couture scores a pair in a 4-1 win over St. Louis to take over the goal-scoring lead on the club with 17. |
| 13 | 4 | 
(19-12-2) |
The Habs find out what teams in the West already know - the Colorado Avalanche are for real. The Avs won their sixth straight edging Montreal 3-2. |
| 14 | 7 | 
(17-11-4) |
Red-hot Tim Thomas makes 25 third period saves to lead the Bruins past the Capitals. |
| 15 | 13 | 
(18-14-3) |
The revamped Blackhawks are still searching for an identity and two straight wins could be an indicator they are finding one. |
| 16 | 11 | 
(15-10-7) |
The Coyotes score on all three shots in the shootout to edge the lowly Islanders 3-2. |
| 17 | 13 | 
(18-12-1) |
After a convincing win over Nashville, the Kings are stalled with a loss to the Blackhawks and have slipped to ninth place in the Western Conference. |
| 18 | 20 | 
(18-15-4) |
Ryan Getzlaf scores twice, but his individual efforts are not enough to stop the Hurricanes. |
| 19 | 21 | 
(15-13-4) |
Eric Staal wins the battle of the young guns registering his 12th-career hat trick in Carolina's win over Anaheim. |
| 20 | 19 | 
(15-11-5) |
David Perron has missed 21 games now and isn't even close to returning to the Blues after being blind-sided by San Jose's Joe Thornton on Nov. 4. |
| 21 | 18 | 
(16-13-3) |
There are some real concerns about the play of goaltender Steve Mason who has been pulled in back-to-back starts and appears to have lost his No. 1 job to Mathieu Garon. |
| 22 | 22 | 
(14-13-4) |
Captain Mikko Koivu scores a goal and adds two assists to help the struggling Wild beat the Flames. |
| 23 | 24 | 
(12-14-5) |
Linus Omark, who scored that fabulous shootout goal in his NHL debut, finally gets one that counts as the Oilers blast Columbus 6-3. |
| 24 | 25 | 
(14-16-3) |
Just when it seems like the Flames have turned a corner, they lay an egg, losing 3-1 to the Wild. |
| 25 | 28 | 
(14-17-4) |
The goaltending soap opera continues in Ottawa with Pascal Leclaire declaring himself unfit to play. |
| 26 | 23 | 
(15-16-0) |
The Panthers jump out to 3-0 leads in back-to-back games, losing to Carolina, but holding on to beat Buffalo. |
| 27 | 26 | 
(13-16-4) |
Ryan Miller is pulled in a loss to the Panthers and then allows three in a loss to the Lightning. |
| 28 | 27 | 
(12-17-4) |
The Leafs make rookie Nazem Kadri a healthy scratch after he fails to follow coach Ron Wilson's directions. |
| 29 | 29 | 
(9-21-2) |
GM Lou Lamoriello insists he'll stand pat, but you have to wonder how long he can let this team continue to sink without doing something drastic. |
| 30 | 30 | 
(6-18-6) |
The hapless Islanders turn the crease over to 27-year-old rookie Nathan Lawson who looks pretty good until allowing three shots in the shootout in a 4-3 loss to Phoenix. |
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