Hello and welcome back to another edition of NHL Power Rankings presented by CBS Sports. We have an urgent news bulletin that we must get to right off the top, and you may need to take a seat for this harrowing and stunning bit of news: It appears that the Buffalo Sabres may not have been for real.
After an outstanding October that saw them launched to the top of the NHL standings, the wheels have fallen off in Buffalo and things have come crashing down in spectacular fashion. And, no, you do not need to check the date of this post because, yes, we are talking about the 2019-2020 Buffalo Sabres.
This is going to be the Sabres' eighth loss in nine games. Hard to believe they've fallen so hard so fast after a terrific October.
— Bill Hoppe (@BillHoppeNHL) November 18, 2019
Ah, yes, hard to believe indeed.
In other news, it brings me no great pleasure to report you that the Toronto Maple Leafs are also still very much butt. The Leafs have lost five in a row and, honestly, they've looked infinitely worse than that sounds. They came into this season as feared contenders but it's now past mid-November and Toronto has still yet to beat a single good team in regulation this season.
One particularly stunning Leafs stat I came across this week: Among all Toronto players who have played at least 50 minutes this season, John Tavares, Mitch Marner and Tyson Barrie are their three worst skaters in terms of goals-for percentage at five-on-five. That's two of your top defensive forwards and a presumed top-pairing defenseman owning the team's worst goal share. You truly hate to see it.
Anywho, let's get to the rest of the league, shall we?
Biggest Movers
7
Sharks
5
Maple Leafs
Rk | Teams | Chg | Rcrd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | The Caps remain at the top as they continue their tear, picking up at least one point in 15 of their last 16 games (28 of 32 possible points). That includes a gutsy late-game comeback win over the Bruins on the road over the weekend. They're basically spitting on the rest of the league at this point. | -- | 40-31-11 |
| 2 |  | They finally lost a game last week (in OT to the Penguins), snapping their win streak at 10 games, but they quickly picked up the pieces by winning their next three. Mat Barzal has nine goals and seven assists during their current 14-game point streak. | 1 | 39-27-16 |
| 3 |  | This team's vice? Finding any and every way possible under the sun to lose games in the shootout. They embarrassingly squandered a four-goal lead in the third period to the Panthers last week, but then bounced back by beating the Leafs and earning a point against the Caps without Patrice Bergeron, Torey Krug and Jake DeBrusk. They're hanging tough despite a depleted lineup. | 1 | 47-20-15 |
| 4 |  | They've lost three straight and seven of their last 10 games have gone to overtime. It's been a grind and it's only going to get tougher as they close out November; They've got seven games over the next 11 days - all against good or respectable teams. | -- | 43-33-6 |
| 5 |  | Every once in a while you just have to check in on the production from Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid and just laugh. Both have 40-plus points in 22 games so far this year. If this team can find a way to turn stamina 'off' and run these guys all game, everyone else could be in big trouble. | -- | 49-27-6 |
| 6 |  | They're currently working on a three-game win streak but it should probably be longer considering their last eight games have been: Red Wings, Devils, Rangers, Senators twice, Sabres and Wild. They owe an Edible Arrangement to the league's schedule makers. | -- | 52-23-7 |
| 7 |  | They nearly went under after losing Mikko Rantanen and Gabe Landeskog but Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar have come to the rescue. Colorado's won four of five and MacKinnon (five goals, 11 points in that span) and Makar (four goals, 10 points) are leading the charge. | -- | 50-25-7 |
| 8 |  | Arizona seems like they should have a lot of excuses to not be this good (tough schedule, injuries, lackluster offense) but, uh, here they are. The goaltending duo remains tough as hell (just ask Matthew Tkachuk) and their only two losses in their last six games have both come against... the Minnesota Wild? Huh, interesting. | -- | 36-41-5 |
| 9 |  | Congratulations to the Penguins for weathering all those early season injuries and still finding success. Now they're out of the woods with a healt-aaaaand Sidney Crosby is out until at least Christmas. | -- | 38-32-12 |
| 10 |  | Florida continues to rise after a slow start and that's despite their $10 million goalie contributing to the league's 28th-ranked team save percentage. Although I guess who needs goaltending when you're averaging an even four goals per game since October 14th? | 1 | 52-24-6 |
| 11 |  | They've got points in their last six games (and nine out of their last 10) but their surprisingly good offense faces a tough test with the extended absence of Jonathan Drouin. | 5 | 30-36-16 |
| 12 |  | They unleashed an absolutely ruthless nine-goal pummeling of the New York Rangers and just when you thought you were ready to ask the question "are the Lightning back?!"...they followed that up with a loss to the Winnipeg Jets at home. [whispering] But still...are the Lightning back? | 2 | 45-29-8 |
| 13 |  | They've lost six of seven but who the hell cares? They finally brought back the Flying Skate and nothing else matters. | 1 | 50-23-9 |
| 14 |  | Their only win over their last seven games came against the Red Wings. Not usually a good sign! | 4 | 47-30-5 |
| 15 |  | Remember when Dallas sucked? After a 1-7-1 start, they've got just one regulation loss in their last 12 games. There's been an uptick in performance from the top of their lineup (which, honestly, isn't saying a whole lot), including Joe Pavelski. Oh, and the goaltending is good again. | 6 | 52-21-9 |
| 16 |  | There's been plenty of talk about early season frustrations from presumed top contenders like the Lightning and Leafs, but Vegas has also been inexcusably mediocre. They're capable of beating anyone on any given night, yet also capable of losing three straight to the Red Wings, Blackhawks and Kings. | 3 | 45-29-8 |
| 17 |  | The Jets have won four of their last five, including the first two games of a pretty tough four-game road trip. And they're finally winning in regulation! They're still a tough team to figure out but they look good right now and Connor Hellebuyck doesn't seem to be getting enough credit for how well he's playing behind a pretty brutal defense. | 3 | 52-24-6 |
| 18 |  | Don't look now but the Sharks have won six straight. Have five of those wins come at home against mostly struggling teams? Yes, but six straight wins is six straight wins and, considering how poorly the Sharks started this year, you'll take them any way you can get 'em. | 7 | 19-54-9 |
| 19 |  | They've lost nine of 11 and their lone wins in that stretch have come against the league's two worst teams (Detroit and Ottawa). This has been the most monumental Sabres collapse after a great October since...*checks notes*...oh, right. | 4 | 39-37-6 |
| 20 |  | Hey, the kids are alright. The Hawks have won four straight and are averaging over five goals per game in that span. One 18-year-old Kirby Dach has contributed four goals during that run as well, and everything is coming up Blackhawks lately. Will it last? Who knows, but scoring goals and winning games is generally a good thing. | 4 | 23-53-6 |
| 21 |  | Nobody loves free hockey quite as much as the Flyers seem to love free hockey. Seven of their last nine games have gone to overtime and, while we're on the subject, I suppose it's worth pointing out that they have one (1) regulation win since October 26th. | 2 | 38-33-11 |
| 22 |  | It seems that both their offense and defense have forgotten about the existence of the high-danger slot area, so that's probably bad. | 5 | 46-26-10 |
| 23 |  | They've scored one total goal over their last three games. Probably not going to work out. | 5 | 38-39-5 |
| 24 |  | They've lost six of seven and -- stop me if you've heard this one before -- I think John Gibson made them look better than they actually were at the start of the season. | 2 | 27-50-5 |
| 25 |  | They gave up nine goals to the Lightning, Lias Andersson is back in the AHL, and things are looking rather rough. But consider this: Artemi Panarin has points in 11 straight games, giving him at least one point in 15 of 18 games played this season - including eight multi-point games. Pretty good! | 2 | 55-23-4 |
| 26 |  | The good news: They've won three of four. The bad news: That loss came to the Senators at home. Yuck! Also, Cory Schneider was sent to Binghamton once again and, while it's a bummer, the Devils really had no choice. | -- | 38-39-5 |
| 27 |  | If they played the Coyotes every game they might have a real shot this year. Alas... | -- | 39-34-9 |
| 28 |  | So, it looks like Ilya Kovalchuk might be the first piece of scrap metal stripped away from this year's Kings team. Question is: Does anyone want him? | 1 | 44-27-11 |
| 29 |  | Three (3): The number of wins Columbus has in regulation this season. | 1 | 27-43-12 |
| 30 |  | For the second time in three weeks, the Sens aren't the league's worst team. What a time to be alive! | 1 | 37-41-4 |
| 31 |  | Detroit has points in five straight and are still the league's worst team. Pretty impressive, honestly. | 1 | 41-32-9 |
