Power Rankings: Predators claw their way to the top
Updated Dec. 26
The Nashville Predators are in the midst of what some might call a hockey-tonk hoedown.
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| Barry Trotz has Nashville rocketing up the rankings. (Getty Images) |
Winners of seven of its last eight, Nashville ranks third in goals scored and seventh in goals-against. Both the power play and penalty kill rank within the top 10.
Their only true blemish this season, a 7-2 loss to Buffalo which ended a five-game win streak on Dec. 21, hardly derailed the Predators. Nashville followed with its most dominant triumph of the year, a 7-0 thrashing of Los Angeles.
"We usually respond well after a poor performance," Nashville coach Barry Trotz said after the Kings game. "I think the guys knew they had to have this game, not only for the two points, but to show everybody the Buffalo game was uncharacteristic of us."
What is characteristic of Nashville's success is the balance throughout the lineup. Even with players such as Paul Kariya and Jason Arnott bearing the most famous mugs in the Music City, plenty of lesser-knowns are making an impact. The team has relied on No. 2 goalie Chris Mason to backstop the team while Tomas Vokoun is out with a thumb injury. Rookie Alexander Radulov already has 10 goals and sophomore Shea Weber is emerging as one of Nashville's offensive defensemen.
"I've always said we have a lot of good character and good leadership in the room," Trotz said.
From what the numbers suggest, good talent and chemistry, too. The rankings this week:
| Power Rankings | |||
| Current | Team | Previous | |
 | 1 | Red Wings · Trends | 3 |
| Whether they're winning in shootouts or regulation, it doesn't matter, the Red Wings look unbeatable at home, and are in the middle of a stretch that has them playing in the friendly confines of Joe Louis Arena often. | |||
 | 2 | Rangers · Trends | 1 |
| The Rangers had a bit of a scare on Sunday when it appeared Ryan McDonagh was shaken up in their win over the Capitals. He was eventually able to return to the game. After Henrik Lundqvist, there aren't many players who have been more valuable to the blue shirts this season. | |||
 | 3 | Canucks · Trends | 2 |
| The Canucks enter the week having earned a point in nine consecutive games going back to Jan. 17 | |||
 | 4 | Blues · Trends | 6 |
| There are only two teams in the NHL allowing fewer than two goals per game this season -- the Rangers and the Blues, and nobody is allowing fewer goals per game than the Blues. | |||
 | 5 | Penguins · Trends | 7 |
| Sidney Crosby or no Sidney Crosby, these guys look like a major contender now that Jordan Staal is back. He looks like he never missed a game. | |||
 | 6 | Bruins · Trends | 5 |
| At the end of the day, the Bruins are still my pick to win the Stanley Cup, and they still own -- by far -- the best goal-differential in the NHL at plus-64. But they haven't looked like the same team over the past couple of weeks. | |||
 | 7 | Predators · Trends | 4 |
| After leading the league in shooting percentage last season, Sergei Kostitsyn enters the week second in the NHL this season at 23.7 percent. That's nice but I think the Predators would rather see him take a few more chances in the hope of scoring a few more goals in exchange for a slightly lower percentage. | |||
 | 8 | Sharks · Trends | 9 |
| It doesn't seem to be getting much attention, but Joe Thornton is putting together another fine season for the Sharks. | |||
 | 9 | Devils · Trends | 8 |
| Fact: Going to the New Jersey Devils two years ago has made Ilya Kovalchuk a better all-around hockey player. | |||
 | 10 | Panthers · Trends | 14 |
| Thanks to three straight wins the Panthers enter Monday with a bit of a cushion in the three-way race in the Southeast Division, leading the Capitals by four points and the Jets by seven. | |||
 | 11 | Flyers · Trends | 10 |
| The Flyers have allowed 10 power play goals over their past six games, including two Sunday night in a 4-3 loss to Detroit. That needs to be corrected. Soon. | |||
 | 12 | Maple Leafs · Trends | 11 |
| Mats Sundin night was supposed to be a celebration capped off with a big game in the playoff race against their oldest, most fierce rival, and instead the Maple Leafs made a mess. | |||
 | 13 | Kings · Trends | 15 |
| Usually, just about every team in the NHL posts a shooting percentage somewhere between eight and 10 percent, and so far this season that's what we're seeing across the league, with one exception: the Los Angeles Kings, entering the week with a team shooting percentage of only 6.8 percent, which is pretty unheard of. | |||
 | 14 | Capitals · Trends | 13 |
| His absence is still showing us just how important and valuable Nicklas Backstrom is to the Capitals. | |||
 | 15 | Blackhawks · Trends | 12 |
| OK, eight losses in a row has to be rock bottom for the Blackhawks, doesn't it? This team is too good for this. | |||
 | 16 | Senators · Trends | 16 |
| Defenseman Erik Karlsson became the first blue liner to reach the 50-point mark this season. As of Monday, no other defenseman has more than 39 points. | |||
 | 17 | Coyotes · Trends | 28 |
| The lesson this week: Never count out a Dave Tippett team. | |||
 | 18 | Canadiens · Trends | 29 |
| Scott Gomez finally scored a goal and the Canadiens close out the week riding a four-game winning streak to move to within seven points of the No. 8 playoff spot. Unfortunately, teams rarely make up a deficit that large at this point in the season. | |||
 | 19 | Lightning · Trends | 18 |
| Guy Boucher on the teams the Lightning are chasing following a loss to the Penguins on Sunday night: "As much as I'd like to call their coaches and ask them to lose for us, it ain't going to work" | |||
 | 20 | Flames · Trends | 24 |
| When the Flames brought Olli Jokinen back last season everybody had a pretty good laugh about it, but he's been a really productive player for them in his latest go with the club. | |||
 | 21 | Stars · Trends | 22 |
| Just 54 games into the season and Michael Ryder has already reached the 20-goal mark for the first time since the 2008-09 season. | |||
 | 22 | Ducks · Trends | 21 |
| The Ducks are still playing much better, but it's still probably too late for them to get back into the playoff picture. | |||
 | 23 | Avalanche · Trends | 19 |
| The Avalanche haven't won a game with Semyon Varlamov in net since Jan. 6. | |||
 | 24 | Wild · Trends | 17 |
| Minnesota went from being the best team in the league to the No. 12 seed in the Western Conference in less than two months. | |||
 | 25 | Jets · Trends | 20 |
| Say this for the Jets: they still seem to play some entertaining games, even in defeat. | |||
 | 26 | Islanders · Trends | 23 |
| Great move to lock up Frans Nielsen, an underrated and extremely valuable part of their young core. | |||
 | 27 | Sabres · Trends | 25 |
| At one point this season the Sabres were actually 11-6-0. Since then they've gone 13-19-6. | |||
 | 28 | Hurricanes · Trends | 26 |
| If the Hurricanes pull Tuomo Ruutu off the trade market and re-sign him, well, that's certainly going to put a rather large dent in the trade deadline hype. Then again, if Ruutu was the most sought-after player, it probably wasn't that exciting to begin with. | |||
 | 29 | Oilers · Trends | 27 |
| It's all Sam Gager, all the time in Edmonton. If it seems like he's had a hand in nearly every Oilers goal over the past two weeks, that's because he has. | |||
 | 30 | Blue Jackets · Trends | 30 |
| So re-signing Vinny Prospal was kind of random, right? | |||
