Might as well circle Nov. 12 and 15 on your calendars right now, hockey fans.
The first two meetings of the season between Pacific rivals Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks will be must-see TV. A crosstown beef that should be all that more intriguing if the level of netminding remains in the same realm as it has been.
Apologies in advance to Brian Wilson and Mike Love, but I wish they all could be California goalies.
Of all the NHL goaltenders with a minimum five starts, L.A.’s Jonathan Quick (.958) and Anaheim’s Frederik Andersen (.951) rank one-two with in save percentage. Andersen also has a league-leading 1.32 goals-against average among goalies with five games played, with Quick ranking second with a 1.54 GAA.
Andersen, who wore the ball cap in the Ducks’ opener versus Pittsburgh, was supposed to share time with rookie John Gibson. But all he’s done since is win: 6-0-0. The great Dane joined Boston’s Ross Brooks (1972-74) as the only goalies in NHL history to win at least 25 of his first 30 NHL decisions earlier this week. Andersen is now 26-5-0 in his career and the reason why management didn’t hesitate to let a No. 1 guy like Jonas Hiller walk this summer.
As for Quickie, a goaltender sometimes viewed as overrated, he’s been shelled but stellar. In his last four outings before shutting out Buffalo, the Kings surrendered 40 shots, 32 shots, 43 shots and 41 shots. Only poor Jhonas Enroth has more rubber than Quick. Yet Quick has won four in a row, posting shutouts in two of those games, including a 65-minute, 43-shot barrage by the Blues.
Here are your NHL power rankings. They’re California top-heavy.
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| Rank | Team | Previous | |
| 1 |  |
Goalie Frederik Andersen wields a league-best six wins and owns a sparkling .951 save percentage for the best team in the NHL right now. And Corey Perry became just the sixth player in past 29 years to record multiple hat tricks in his team’s first seven games of the season. |
4 |
| 2 |  |
That 70s Line is flying high, and Jonathan Quick has been a beast. The goaltender (.958 save percentage) has won four straight despite facing more than 40 shots in two of his last three outings. |
7 |
| 3 |  |
Five wins already for Pekka Rinne, as the most pleasant surprise of the Western Conference still hasn’t lost a game in regulation time. Every other NHL team has. |
12 |
| 4 |  |
Worst thing you can do these days is take the early lead on the Habs. Montreal has won five straight when surrendering the game’s first goal. (Side note: Did you see P.K. Subban’s Halloween costume yet? Vincent Priceless.) |
11 |
| 5 |  |
A tough tour of California resulted in consecutive 2-1 losses to the Kings and Ducks. Minnesota has had a light schedule but a nasty one. The Wild have yet to play a non-playoff team, but they still have a winning record, thanks to Darcy Kuemper’s three shutouts in four starts. |
2 |
| 6 |  |
With Corey Crawford banged up, Antti Raanta backstopped Chicago to a 4-0 blanking of the Flyers, but the ‘Hawks suffered their first loss of the season Thursday, to Nashville. |
8 |
| 7 |  |
Jonathan Drouin is finally an NHL player, and we can’t wait until he finds a permanent spot on Steven Stamkos’ line. But the loss of Victor Hedman is huge. Also: How big of an upgrade is Evgeni Nabokov over Anders Lindback as this team’s backup goalie? |
10 |
| 8 |  |
Nicklas Backstrom, who has five assists through six games, became the first player from the 2006 NHL Draft class to reach 500 career points. The Barry Trotz Capitals rank in the top eight in offence, defence, power play and penalty killing. Well rounded. |
19 |
| 9 |  |
Only Pittsburgh is more dangerous offensively than the Stars. Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn and Jason Spezza are living up to billing, and 31-year-old defenceman Trevor Daley (point per game) must be loving his time on the power play. |
22 |
| 10 |  |
The Sens are still giving up considerably more shots (35.6) per game than they take (28), but this pesky lineup has a winning percentage of .800. Nice bounce-back. Four wins and counting… |
17 |
| 11 |  |
The Metropolitan Division-leading Islanders (no typo) came back down to earth with consecutive losses to the Penguins and Leafs. Having D-men Thomas Hickey and Travis Hamonic injured (both day-to-day) doesn’t help the back end. And now Josh Bailey has a broken hand. |
6 |
| 12 |  |
Fantastic display of class in Pittsburgh, singing “O Canada” before an all-U.S. matchup Wednesday. If only the Penguins could figure out how to beat Philly at home… |
3 |
| 13 |  |
When alternate captain Joe Thornton registered his 1,200th career point this week, he became just the 18th NHLer to reach the benchmark. Mercifully, the feat was not achieved on a four-goal night. |
1 |
| 14 |  |
Horrible news for Blue Jackets fans: Nathan Horton’s back injury threatens to not only end his season but his career. And some good news: off-season acquisition Scott Hartnell (eight assists already) is looking like a dang steal. |
13 |
| 15 |  |
Pavel Datsyuk returned and proved that even his disallowed gaols can be disgusting. The Wings won both sides of a back-to-back versus the Leafs, and a team believed to be weak defensively ranks fourth overall in goals against. And did you see that comeback against the Pens Thursday? Wow. |
18 |
| 16 |  |
Vancouver beat the teams it should (Calgary, Edmonton, then Edmonton some more), but the Canucks are O-fer against playoff clubs, losing to the Bolts and Stars. |
9 |
| 17 |  |
Goaltending, goaltending, goaltending. How else to explain a team that gets outshot by an average of six pucks per game walking around with a winning record? |
16 |
| 18 |  |
So what if he couldn’t find the back of the net last spring? Rick Nash is knotted with Corey Perry atop the Maurice Richard Trophy race. Eight goals through seven games, for a team whose offence is suddenly better than its defence. |
25 |
| 19 |  |
Who’d have thunk the Devils’ strength would be offence? They rank fifth overall in that category and seventh on the power play. Oddly its New Jersey’s defence (3.33 GAA) that needs to tighten up. Apropos of nothing: Martin Havlat needed more than 55 stitches to repair his face this week after colliding with a ref. |
5 |
| 20 |  |
What an underwhelming start. The Bruins are below .500 after Johnny Boychuk’s new team strolled into town and beat them. Milan Lucic is acting out, and — worse — Zdeno Chara is now out four to six weeks. |
14 |
| 21 |  |
A Paul Stastny injury (day-to-day, wrist) won’t help the Blues’ sluggish offence kick into high gear. Since the Olympic break, the Blues have scored just 2.03 goals per game, 29th in the league. Uh-oh. |
15 |
| 22 |  |
Toronto’s offence exploded against the Islanders this week, but the Leafs couldn’t solve Detroit in two attempts and they lost winger Brandon Kozun to a high ankle sprain. |
20 |
| 23 |  |
Big win for Philly — only the Flyers’ second — Wednesday over its Pennsylvania nemesis. Another slow start here has been buoyed in part by the play of Jakub Voracek. His nine points put him on pace with Sidney Crosby. |
26 |
| 24 |  |
What’s the identity of this team again? The Coyotes rank 16th in scoring but 29th in goals against. That should flip as the sample size swells. Right? |
21 |
| 25 |  |
The Cats’ 29th-ranked offence (1.5 goals per game) isn’t the worst in the league only because Buffalo still plays in the NHL. They’ve yet to win at home but — bright side! — yet to lose in regulation on the road. |
27 |
| 26 |  |
Stumbling hard out of the gate, the Oilers regained their footing with consecutive wins over Tampa Bay and Washington. Ben Scrivens has looked razor sharp in those victories as Viktor Fasth continues to nurse a groin injury. (P.S. How ’bout that Taylor Hall, kids?) |
30 |
| 27 |  |
The Corsi crowd must be loving this. The biggest disappointment of this young season has won just once in seven attempts. Time for Patrick Roy to attack something or Semyon Varlamov to get healthy. |
23 |
| 28 |  |
Winnipeg mercifully ended its four-game losing skid — which included a 4-1 loss to the Flames and a shutout by the Preds. But you can’t host Carolina every night. Paging Evander Kane’s knee… |
24 |
| 29 |  |
The Sabres’ minus-19 goal differential is far and away the ugliest in the NHL and the club is still in single digits in the total-goals-for column — through seven games. Best thing to happen in Buffalo this week was Connor McDavid playing a junior game there. |
28 |
| 30 |  |
The only NHL team still in search of a W. |
29 |