Being at the top of the mountain is always provides the best view. The Pittsburgh Penguins have taken first in the Metropolitan Division right from the start. After this past week, they're just higher up from everyone else. As they should since they got hot and laid waste to their opponents. Three out of four of them within the division, which is an additional bonus for them.
Team | GP | W | L | OT | ROW | Pts | Last Week | Ptl. Pts |
PIT | 15 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 22 | 4-0-0 | 4 |
NYI | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 2-1-0 | 6 |
WSH | 14 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 2-1-0 | 6 |
NYR | 13 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 3-0-0 | 6 |
CAR | 14 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 0-3-0 | 6 |
CBJ | 13 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 10 | 0-3-0 | 6 |
NJD | 13 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 1-1-0 | 6 |
PHI | 13 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 1-2-0 | 6 |
Source: NHL.com - Links go to SBN Team Blogs
When you go 4-0 and push down two teams within the division, you deserve notice. The Penguins have it all. They're the class of the Metropolitan Division. Their third-stringer goalie just got a shutout. They have the best player in the world. And it's going to take plenty of time and losing before they're at risk of losing their spot. Well done to them. Their reward is a short week with only two games and plenty of time in between both.
The New York Rangers helped themselves the most in this past week. They won all of their games, like the Penguins. Unlike the Penguins, they moved up in the standings. They're now just outside of the top three and they have a game in hand on the third-place Washington Capitals. The team now has plenty of home games ahead of itself and are in a good position to keep helping themselves. It would have helped them further had the New York Islanders and Capitals dropped, but they had good weeks of their own.
On the opposite spectrum, poor, poor Carolina and Columbus. The Hurricanes lost their top goalie and dropped all three games, including one to Pittsburgh. The Blue Jackets got owned by the Penguins in a back-to-back set and dropped the other game. As such, they've fallen as the Isles, Caps, and Rangers headed on up. Carolina is in a slightly worse spot with one more game played than everyone around them. The New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia bring up the rear. It was somewhat expected for the Devils as they only has two games last game; the Flyers can only feel good about their recent result over the Devils.
Team | 11/3 | 11/4 | 11/5 | 11/6 | 11/7 | 11/8 | 11/9 |
PIT | @ NYR | @ STL | |||||
NYI | @ WSH | @ CAR | @ CBJ | ||||
WSH | vs. NYI | vs. MIN | @ PHX | ||||
NYR | vs. ANA | vs. PIT | @ CBJ | ||||
CAR | vs. PHI | vs. NYI | vs. MIN | ||||
CBJ | vs. OTT | vs. NYR | vs. NYI | ||||
NJD | @ MIN | @ PHI | @ TOR | ||||
PHI | @ CAR | vs. NJD | vs. EDM |
Everyone not named Pittsburgh plays the same amount of games in this coming week. There are plenty of inter-division games to go around, which could cause further chaos in the division. Everyone's got at least one this week and most teams have two. The Isles can help themselves out greatly as all three games are within the division. They're in second now and can create some space for themselves. The Devils should be cheering for them too as the Caps and Canes are directly ahead of them. Of course, they can't cheer too hard for the Canes to lose on Tuesday as the only team they're ahead of in the standings comes to visit them on Tuesday. The Devils have to take care of business themselves, too. Starting tonight in Minnesota.
Either way, the only certainty is that the Penguins will lead the Metropolitan for one more week. It is not mathematically possible for the Isles to catch them this week. What else do you think will happen? Will either the Canes or Blue Jackets rebound? Who will finish in second and third this week? Can the Devils get themselves up soon? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about the division in the comments. Thank you for reading.