Todd Cordell
1. Tampa Bay (10-2-1)
Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov are literally unstoppable right now so it's no surprise the Lightning are winning a ton of games. As long as they stay healthy, that should continue.
2…‹…‹…‹…‹…‹. St. Louis (10-2-1)
I thought the Blues were going to take a step back this season and, well…‹, so much for that.…‹ They've out-played teams at 5v5 and Jake Allen looks good, which is a nice recipe for success. …‹ 3. Columbus (8-4-0)
The Jackets have a very balanced attack, one of the best defense pairings in the NHL, and Sergei Bobrovsky looks poised to contend for another Vezina. This team is for real.
4. Toronto (7-5-0)
They've hit a bit of a wall but their underlying numbers are still fantastic and their forward core is as good as any. They'll be fine.
5. Los Angeles (9-2-1)
One of their best players, Jeff Carter, has missed as many games as he's played and the Kings still have the 2nd best goal differential in the NHL.
Jared Crozier 1. Tampa (10-2-1)
The Bolts continue to ride the hot hands of Stamkos and Kucherov, who both had their points streak snapped by the Ducks but bounced back in a big way in their last game against the Panthers
2. St. Louis (10-2-1)
The results catch up to the predictive advanced stats and are riding a 4 game winning streak including quality wins over Columbus and LA
3. Los Angeles (9-2-1)
Wrapped up a tough 6 game road trip with a 4-2 record, with one of the losses coming to #2 STL
4. New Jersey (8-2-0)
Had a full week off but didn't show any rust in winning 2 straight coming off their break to keep their unexpected pace going.
5. New York Islanders (7-4-1)
The Islanders have scored 29 goals en route to winning 5 of 6 games, with John Tavares leading the way (9G, 3A in last 5 games)
Honorable mention to Vegas who fell out of my top 5 because of two straight losses, but are now so deep on their goaltending depth chart that I might be in net by the time they get here to Ottawa on Saturday.
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