PostPosted: Tue Jan 03, 2012 5:49 pm Post subject: TSN's NHL Power Rankings

We're now at #25. Luckily it's all about how you finish the year....

There aren't a lot of changes at the top of the TSN.ca NHL Power Rankings, which means another week at No. 1 for the Boston Bruins.

The top ten teams remained the same as the previous week, but then the changes start in the second tier.

Colorado's winning ways have vaulted them to 11th, up from 14th. The Washington Capitals, who are getting more production from left winger Alexander Ovechkin and are due to get defenceman Mike Green back from injury, jumped from 24th to 14th.

With points in eight straight games, the offensively-challenged Los Angeles Kings have gained ground too, moving from 25th to 16th.

Ottawa cracked the Top 20 for the second time this season, going from 23rd to 17th, on the strength of their recent good fortune when the game goes beyond 60 minutes, winning five of the last six times that they have played overtime or reached a shootout, but they're also mounting an offensive charge, lobbing at least 39 shots on goal in five of their last ten games.

Moving in the wrong direction, the Toronto Maple Leafs slipped from 12th to 18th, the first time in six weeks that they've been ranked outside the Top 16. With nine of their next ten games at home, the Leafs need to use this opportunity to recapture a playoff position.

Dallas dropped from 17th to 22nd, not so much for losing four of the last seven, which is sufficiently mediocre, but for the injury woes hitting their defence corps as Sheldon Souray, Stephane Robidas and Philip Larsen are all sidelined. Robidas may be back this week, but missing half the defence corps tends to be a problem.

Also familiar with an injury-plagued blueline, the Buffalo Sabres fell from 15th to 25th now that Christian Ehrhoff and Andrej Sekera have joined the list of walking (but not skating) wounded.

Across the rest of Canada, the Vancouver Canucks remain in third spot, the Winnipeg Jets are up one to 12th, the Calgary Flames drop two to 20th, the Edmonton Oilers slip from 21st to 23rd and the Montreal Canadiens continue falling, from 22nd to 24th.

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