NHL Power Rankings: Bruins up to No. 2 as Devils heat up, Flames cool off

The Bruins are inching closer to the Lightning, while the Devils are coming off a big win vs. the Pens

Is the NHL's absence from the 2018 Winter Olympics hitting you yet?

If not, it will soon. But we're here to help alleviate the pain with another edition of our Power Rankings!

Not much has changed up top since we said goodbye to January hockey, but the Boston Bruins are one step closer to unseating the Tampa Bay Lightning as the league's No. 1 team, advancing to the second overall spot after discarding both the St. Louis Blues and Toronto Maple Leafs. Tampa Bay remains a relatively comfortable favorite thanks to its plus-50 goal differential, which puts the Lighting well on a Presidents' Trophy level, but the Bruins have probably been the NHL's most steady winner since their December revival.

In the middle of the pack, the New Jersey Devils are also on the rise in our latest pecking order. They've still got a ways to go to fully overcome their recent slide, but a big win over the defending Stanley Cup champions doesn't hurt, and neither does the prominent presence of Travis Zajac. Unlike the Calgary Flames, they're among several others climbing up the charts entering the new week:

Biggest Movers
9 Devils
4 Flames
Rk
Teams
  
Chg
Rcrd
1 Lightning If they reel in a D-man, they'll be like the 2016-17 Capitals, except even better. --54-23
2 Bruins Teams should be scared of this Tuukka Rask/Charlie McAvoy-led defense come playoff time. 150-20
3 Golden Knights Vegas is on one of its worst stretches of the year (5-3-2), and even that isn't below .500. 151-24
4 Predators Remember that Bridgestone Arena crowd? Yeah, it's back. --53-18
5 Jets The Yea of Connor Hellebuyck continues. --52-20
6 Blues It hasn't been pretty, but they're on an upswing. 144-32
7 Capitals Imagine if they rematched Vegas in the Stanley Cup Final. It's been that kind of year. 149-26
8 Stars This is like a broken record: When they're on, they're really on. --42-32
9 Maple Leafs So maybe Ron Hainsey isn't enough on the defensive end. --49-26
10 Sharks They should at least know what they have to do to win without Joe Thornton. 145-27
11 Devils Travis Zajac is an obvious X-factor for this team right now. 944-29
12 Kings Dropping six on Arizona is great and all, but their real tests came beforehand, and they flunked. 145-29
13 Avalanche Losing Nathan MacKinnon was the worst possible trial in the face of a playoff push. 343-30
14 Penguins The Marc-Andre Fleury reunion we've all been waiting for is almost here. --47-29
15 Wild Here we are, yet again, talking about Minnesota's embarrassing road game. --45-26
16 Flames An overtime win might've been just what Calgary needed to outgrow its slump. 437-35
17 Ducks It's kind of a wonder that they're even in the playoff picture. 144-25
18 Flyers Against elites, they're fine. In trap games, they really get trapped. 142-26
19 Blue Jackets Losses in six of their last eight probably have John Tortorella fuming. 145-30
20 Islanders Doug Weight continues to warrant credit for his adjustments. 135-37
21 Blackhawks Their goal differential is still well above zero, but their playoff streak is also in serious danger. 133-39
22 Rangers Their game vs. Nashville was scrappy, and they left battered. 334-39
23 Hurricanes Good thing Sebastian Aho is in town. --36-35
24 Panthers Reinforcements are on the way this week. 344-30
25 Red Wings Tough way for them to lose recently, but they've got more to worry about than officiating. --30-39
26 Oilers Remember when they were Stanley Cup favorites? That was fun. 236-40
27 Canadiens Losing Jonathan Drouin stinks, but so did the team with him. 129-40
28 Canucks They can learn a lot from playing a team like the Lightning. --31-40
29 Senators Who knew that the Habs-Senators series this year would be so ... bleh? --28-43
30 Sabres Robin Lehner at least has reason to enter the new week proud. --25-45
31 Coyotes No one else could've lifted the Kings' spirits like the Coyotes. --29-41
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