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Week 27 Power Rankings
Robert Picarello / Posted: 78 days ago
Two goaltenders -- Roberto Luongo and Chris Mason -- stole the show in Week 27.
Luongo helped the Vancouver Canucks steal the Northwest Division title away from the Calgary Flames in the final week of the season, posting a 3-0-0 record with a 0.33 goals-against average, .989 save percentage and two shutouts. The stellar stopper turned away 88 of the 89 shots he faced, including all but one of the attempts the Flames threw his way in a 4-1 victory on April 7. Luongo finished the year with a 33-13-7 record, 2.34 GAA, .920 save percentage and nine shutouts in 54 appearances.
Mason backstopped the St. Louis Blues back into the playoffs for the first time since the 2003-04 season. Like Luongo, the 32-year old netminder also finished with a 3-0-0 record last week in addition to a 0.67 GAA, .973 save percentage and one shutout. Mason stopped 72 of the 74 shots he faced, including 16 in the playoff-clinching 3-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on April 10. Mason appeared in the Blues' last 38 games of the season, posting a 24-8-6 record, 2.08 GAA, .924 save percentage and five shutouts in those contests.
But in the end, no individual player or team had enough in the tank to knock the San Jose Sharks off the power rankings perch. The Sharks closed out the 2008-09 season with the best record in the league, finishing one point ahead of the Boston Bruins with a 53-18-11 mark. San Jose held onto the No. 1 spot in the power rankings for 23 straight weeks. The last time another team sat atop the rankings this year was Week 4 when Carey Price backstopped the Montreal Canadiens to three straight wins.
Where did your team finish in the power rankings? Read on to find out.
(Note: The Power Rankings will be based on a formula of points earned divided by the maximum amount of points possible [points/games played x 2]. In case of a tie, categories such as wins, goals against, goals for, power play goals and power play percentage will determine rankings.)
| NHL Power Rankings Week Of 04/13/2009 | |||||
| Rk | Team | Last Wk | Rise/Fall | High/Low | Comment |
| 1 |  Sharks |
1 | - | 1/5 | (.713) The Sharks may have lost two out of three in the final week of the regular season, but the team closed out the 2008-09 campaign by winning the President's trophy, giving the club home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs. San Jose's only victory of Week 27 came on Tuesday night against the Avalanche when Evgeni Nabokov stopped everything fired his way in a 1-0 shootout win over Colorado. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 2 |  Bruins |
2 | - | 2/21 | (.707) Phil Kessel helped the Bruins close out the year with their most wins (53) since the 1973-74 season when Boston won 52 games. Kessel picked up six points last week off five goals and one assist with four of those points coming in a 6-2 romp over the Islanders on Sunday. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 3 |  Red Wings |
3 | - | 1/13 | (.683) While the Red Wings start the playoffs as the second seed in the West, the club can't be happy with the way it closed out the regular season. Detroit finished the year 3-6-1 in its last 10 games, which included three lossess in four games in Week 27. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 4 |  Capitals |
4 | - | 4/19 | (.659) The way Washington played down the stretch, expect this team to be a force in the postseason. The Capitals secured the second seed in the East by picking up 14 of a possible 20 points in their last 10 games, including four of six in Week 27. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 5 |  Devils |
5 | - | 3/19 | (.646) The Devils were a bit shaky down the stretch. New Jersey closed out the year 4-5-1 in its last 10 games, clinching the Atlantic Division title in the second-to-last game of the season. The Devs will be the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference and play host to the Carolina Hurricanes. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 6 |  Blackhawks |
6 | - | 4/29 | (.634) The Blackhawks closed out the year as one of the NHL's hottest teams. Chicago won three of the four games it played in Week 27, finishing the regular season with just one loss in the month of April. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 7 |  Canucks |
10 | (+3) | 5/26 | (.610) The Vancouver Canucks played better hockey down the stretch than the Calgary Flames and earned themselves their second division title in the last three seasons. Vancouver ran the table in Week 27, going 3-0-0, which included a 4-1 win over slumping Calgary. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 8 |  Penguins |
12 | (+4) | 3/22 | (.604) The Penguins gave the Devils a run for their money in the final few weeks of the season. Pittsburgh almost wrested away the Atlantic Division title from New Jersey down the stretch, finishing 7-2-1 in its last 10 games -- including a 3-0-0 mark in Week 27. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 9 |  Flyers |
7 | (-2) | 5/29 | (.604) By only winning two of their final four games of the season, the Flyers failed to secure home-ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs. Marty Biron was the only reason the club skated away with any wins at all last week, as the goaltender turned away 59 of the 62 shots he faced in one-goal wins over the Panthers and Islanders. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 10 |  Flames |
8 | (-2) | 5/26 | (.598) The Flames only have themselves to blame when it comes to the Northwest Division crown. The club could have clinched the division title last week, but only picked up four of a possible eight points in Week 27, allowing the Vancouver Canucks to leapfrog them in the standings and skate away with the title. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 11 |  Hurricanes |
9 | (-2) | 6/22 | (.591) Carolina lost two of three in Week 27. The team needs to find the form that saw it win nine in a row, otherwise their opening round series against the New Jersey Devils will be a short one. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 12 |  Rangers |
14 | (+2) | 1/14 | (.579) Henrik Lundqvist made sure the Rangers were going to be playing hockey and not golf this week. The New York goaltender backstopped his team into the postseason by picking up wins in the team's final three games of the season, including a sensational effort against the Flyers at MSG where he turned away 37 of the 38 shots he faced in a nail-biting, playoff-clinching 2-1 win. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 13 |  Panthers |
15 | (+2) | 9/30 | (.567) Down the stretch, the Panthers certainly didn't play like a team that hadn't been to the playoffs since the 1999-2000 season. Florida finished the year 6-3-1 in its last 10 games, which included six wins in its last eight games. But unfortunately it wasn't enough to qualify the team for the postseason. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 14 |  Canadiens |
11 | (-3) | 1/14 | (.567) The good news for the Canadiens is that they qualified for the playoffs. But the bad news for the club is that it probably won't be around too long to enjoy the ride. Montreal barely got into the postseason, earning one out of a possible eight points in the final week of the regular season. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 15 |  Blue Jackets |
13 | (-2) | 13/27 | (.561) The Blue Jackets have to be happy about clinching their first-ever postseason berth in Week 27. But the team can't be happy with the way they played in the final weeks of the season. Columbus lost four of the five games it played in April, including two of three last week. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 16 |  Blues |
19 | (+3) | 8/27 | (.561) In the last few weeks of the season, the Blues proved they belonged in the postseason. St. Louis posted an 8-1-1 mark in its final 10 games of the year, earning the team its first playoff berth in five years. Keith Tkachuk's five points in Week 27 helped the Blues close out the season with a 3-0-0 mark. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 17 |  Ducks |
16 | (-1) | 6/30 | (.555) The Ducks picked up the final postseason spot in the West by getting hot at the right time. Anaheim collected 15 out of a possible 20 points in its last 10 games of the year, edging out Minnesota and Nashville for the opportunity to play for a Stanley Cup championship. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 18 |  Sabres |
17 | (-1) | 2/22 | (.555) While the Sabres failed to earn one of the eight playoff spots in the East this season, the club shouldn't hang their heads. Buffalo gave it everything it had down the stretch, going 7-2-1 in its last 10 games, including a 3-1-0 mark in Week 27. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 19 |  Wild |
20 | (+1) | 1/21 | (.543) Minnesota ran Wild on the competition in the final week of the season (3-0-0), but in the end the club fell two points shy of a playoff berth out West. The Wild outscored their opponents 17-8 in their final three games of the year, getting eight points from Marian Gaborik in the hat trick of victories. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 20 |  Predators |
18 | (-2) | 12/24 | (.537) A sub-par April cost the Predators a fifth straight playoff berth. Nashville lost four of its final six games of the year, including two of the three games it played in the Week 27. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 21 |  Oilers |
21 | - | 2/23 | (.518) Thanks to a 3-7-0 mark in the final 10 games of the year, which included a 2-3-0 record in April, the Oilers failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the third season in a row. The Edmonton power play slumped mightily in the last month of the season, finishing 3-for-18 in five games. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 22 |  Senators |
23 | (+1) | 12/29 | (.506) Before dropping their final two games of the year, Ottawa managed to extend their modest winning streak to three games at the start of Week 27. The Senators opened up the week by downing two playoff-bound teams in Montreal and Boston, skating away with 3-2 victories each time. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 23 |  Stars |
22 | (-1) | 3/29 | (.506) The Stars closed out their disappointing season by losing seven of their last 10 games, including two of three in Week 27. Dallas failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2002. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 24 |  Maple Leafs |
24 | - | 16/28 | (.494) The Maple Leafs closed out the year by winning two of their final three games. Martin Gerber was in goal for both of the Toronto wins, turning aside 84 of the 87 shots he faced. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 25 |  Coyotes |
26 | (+1) | 4/27 | (.482) While the Coyotes couldn't find a way to get themselves in the playoffs this season, in the final month of the 2008-09 campaign they may have found themselves their goalie of the future in Al Montoya. The former first-round draft pick went 3-1-0 in his four starts, registering a 2.08 GAA, a .925 save percentage and his first NHL shutout. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 26 |  Kings |
25 | (-1) | 16/30 | (.482) The Kings' power play was non-existent in the team's two defeats in Week 27, going 0-for-6 in losses to the Flames and Canucks. The club was no better during five-on-five play in the losses, giving up four goals to the opposition while scoring only one. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 27 |  Thrashers |
27 | - | 10/29 | (.463) The Atlanta Thrashers closed out another disappointing season by losing two of the final three games they played. Ilya Kovalchuk, Atlanta's leading scorer, was held pointless in the team's two losses. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 28 |  Avalanche |
28 | - | 11/29 | (.421) Colorado closed out the year worse than it started. The Avalanche closed out the season with three straight losses after opening up the 2008-09 campaign with three straight defeats six months ago. The Avs failed to qualify for the postseason for only the second time since moving to Colorado in 1995. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 29 |  Lightning |
29 | - | 16/30 | (.402) The Tampa Bay Lightning got doubled up on the scoreboard by the opposition in the three games they played in Week 27. The Bolts gave up 16 goals to their opponents in the three losses, while only scoring eight. The Lightning closed out the year by going 0-for-April, losing all five games they played during the month. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |
| 30 |  Islanders |
30 | - | 12/30 | (.372) The Islanders finished the 2008-09 campaign with the worst record in the NHL. The club played like the worst team in the league in Week 27, giving up 24 goals while only scoring five in four straight losses. Team: Home | Stats | Fantasy |