NHL Flame-o-Meter: McDavid is the Human Torch, and the Rangers are cold as ice
The defending Western Conference champion Predators are also heating up early in the year
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2 min read
It's Friday and time for another look at our NHL Flame-o-Meter, your one-stop shop for hot and not-so-hot faces of the league:
Human Torch hot: Connor McDavid
This doesn't apply to the Edmonton Oilers as much as it does their superhuman hero. And, hey, even though we're all still waiting for a decent rendition of the actual Human Torch on the big screen, Connor "Johnny Storm" McDavid is playing the part just fine on the ice. Did you see his no-look assist against Chicago on Thursday? In other words, did you witness magic in real life?
McDavid's team still has a ways to go before resembling anything close to a Stanley Cup contender, which plenty assumed it was before this season, but his wizardry helped a Leon Draisaitl-less unit get a big 2-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, so that's a start.
Boiling over: New Jersey Devils
If you thought the young Devils were hot after the first week of 2017-18 action, get your oven mitts ready, because John Hynes is overseeing quite the movement right now. Most people anticipated improvement for New Jersey after a summer that finally rewarded Taylor Hall with some long-term teammates, but it's fair to say the expectations have been raised to the roof in just a few weeks' time. Nico Hischier finally tallied his first NHL goals Thursday as the Devils' talent overflowed on ice. Two days after dispatching of the Tampa Bay Lightning (!), Hynes' club logged an overtime win over the Ottawa Senators. They're getting tons of points from their rookies, and that includes red-hot defenseman Will Butcher.
Toastier by the day: Nashville Predators
They might never reach Molten Lava status -- er, their 2016-17 playoff peak. But the defending Western Conference champions are heating up ever since the reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins shut them out early in the month. Since Oct. 4, in fact, Nashville is 4-0-1, with the lone overtime loss coming against a Blackhawks team that the Preds outplayed for much of the game.
If you look at the standings, they haven't been running over bottom-of-the-barrel competition, either, putting up six on a good Philadelphia Flyers team, keeping the surprisingly high-scoring Colorado Avalanche to one goal and then, Thursday, blanking the Flyers once again with a 1-0 victory -- a reminder that Pekka Rinne still has it in net.
Colder than dying embers: New York Rangers
Let's just say it outright: They're cold. There is no flame here. How else do you describe a team that just lost its fifth straight, let alone to its usually lesser New York counterpart, and now finds itself with the second-worst goal differential in the league? A 1-5-2 record is as awful as it sounds, and there is plenty of blame to go around. Whether you want to fault Henrik Lundqvist's poor start, the disorganization of a defense that's not getting enough from guys like Kevin Shattenkirk, a lackadaisical offense that lost Derek Stepan over the summer or Alain Vigneault's line experiments, the problems are all over the ice. They've surrendered more goals than any team in the NHL, and that alone should tell you why they're in trouble.
