In the third weekly Metropolitan Division snapshot of the season, the New York Rangers jumped past a winless New Jersey Devils team to take first. The Carolina Hurricanes surged as the Pittsburgh Penguins suffered. All this and more in this week’s snapshot.
The third week of the Weekly Metropolitan Division snapshot finds the first change at the top. With the New Jersey Devils in the middle of a four-game winless streak, their hated rivals in the New York Rangers took the top spot by winning their week. This weekly post is all about results and so the Rangers have them. The Devils may be a point behind but that heavy difference in games played (GP) means the Devils need help to avoid freefalling should their winless run continue. Fortunately for them, the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals provided that help last night in losses that kept them from moving up. Unfortunately for them (and the Rangers), here comes a surging Carolina Hurricanes. Here is what the division looks like as of this morning:
NHL.com
In this week’s schedule, you will notice just three games within the division. Do not worry; more intra-division games are coming up soon after this week. It is nice to see that the division will be active throughout the week too. As usual, those three games are highlighted and in bold:
Schedules via NHL.com
Here is the week that was and week that will be for all eight teams.
New York Rangers
What Happened Last Week: The Rangers visited Montreal to close out a three-game trip on Frozen Frenzy. They swept their trip in dominating fashion. Within the first 11 minutes and five seconds, they were up 4-0. Mika Zibanejad scored within the first minute of the game, Jonny Brodzinski made it 2-0 about 90 seconds later, Reilly Smith added a goal minutes later, and Filip Chytil tipped in a Smith shot for a power play goal. Montreal would get on the board shortly thereafter with a tip-in by Nick Suzuki. They would make it somewhat of a game with a PPG early in the second period by Suzuki. But Braden Schneider’s goal over two and a half minutes later cooled off the comeback effort. The scoring would not stop. Late in the third, Chytil added another goal and Kaapo Kakko got his first of the season on the next shift to make it 7-2. A stupendous win for the Rangers to comeback to Manhattan with a winning streak.
The winning streak would end on Thursday night when they hosted Florida. Anton Lundell poured water on the Rangers’ run with a goal 44 seconds into the game. Carter Verhaeghe added more with a goal about two minutes later. The Rangers would get on the board a bit later with a goal by Alexis Lafreniere. But Sergey Bobrovsky was not giving anything else up. Florida would pull away further with a tip-in by Sam Bennett to go up 3-1. That would be enough as the Panthers maintained that lead. The Rangers finally lost their first game in regulation in this season.
The Rangers would respond on Saturday night when they hosted Anaheim. The Ducks proved to be a tougher opponent than expected. Lukas Dostal stopped 18 shots in the first period alone. From the second onward, the Ducks would actually out-shoot New York. Johnathan Quick had to be good. Scoring did not begin until the third period. Ryan Lindgren provided the breakthrough just over four minutes in. Will Cuylle deflected a Kaapo Kakko shot to make it 2-0. It stood up under review. It was a good thing too as Olen Zellweger made it 2-1 within the next minute. The Rangers had to sweat but they held on for the 2-1 win. They won the week by going 2-1-0 and moved past New Jersey to take first place in this week’s snapshot.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Rangers have a light week coming up. They will host Washington in what could be a fun intra-division game on Tuesday night. The Rangers will begin November by hosting Ottawa on Friday night. Enjoy the days without a game, Rangers. The schedule may not be so kind in the future.
New Jersey Devils
What Happened Last Week: The Devils kicked off their week with a slightly-earlier-than-usual game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Frozen Frenzy Tuesday. It started off well with a Jack Hughes breakaway goal. Then the defense fell apart. Thanks to Jake Allen, Tampa Bay could only tie it up with a mid-air bat-in of a PPG from Brayden Point in the first period. Early in the second, Hughes set up Timo Meier for a 2-1 lead. Then the Lightning came back and never stopped. The Lightning ran up five straight goals in the second period. Victor Hedman made it 2-2 on an open shot from the right side. Brandon Hagel scored a natural hat trick (!!). Hedman completed the rout with another score. Down 6-2, what did the Devils do? They did pull it back to 6-4 in the third period with scores from Nathan Bastian and a PPG from Meier. But Dawson Mercer got run into Jonas Johansson by Victor Hedman, somehow got called for goalie interference, and Jake Guentzel scored off the resulting faceoff to make it 7-4. The insult to the loss would come minutes later. During a Devils power play, J.J. Moser took a faceoff win by Nick Paul and cleared the puck. Allen left the net to play it – and the puck bounced off the boards and went into the empty net. That sealed up a 8-4 loss, a horrid night for the Devils defensively and in general.
Would they respond on Thursday night in Detroit? Not really. They absolutely owned the shot count against Detroit. Their power play was potent. Nico Hischier opened the scoring in the first period with a PPG. A goal that was answered later after a turnover by Jonas Siegenthaler that led to a low-danger shot by Andrew Copp and a rebound by an open Christian Fischer. On the very next shift, Luke Hughes turned the puck over right to Alex DeBrincat, whom beat Jacob Markstrom with an unscreened long shot for 1-2. Brutal. The Devils would claw the game back to 2-2 with a PPG from Erik Haula touching off a shot by Timo Meier. The Devils were in control in the third and held the Red Wings shotless – until nearly halfway through the period. After Fischer boarded Brenden Dillon for no penalty, Dillon fought Fischer and received two for roughing on top of the fighting major. Right on the resulting power play, Dylan Larkin batted in a puck in mid-air from Patrick Kane to make it 2-3. The Devils would get a power play shortly later and Nico Hischier buried his second PPG to tie it up. The score held – until Dawson Mercer decided to cross-check Olli Maatta. A brutal penalty to take with over three minutes later. And it did not take long for Kane to score on a long shot Markstrom should have stopped. The Devils pulled Markstrom late for an extra skater, a clearance by Simon Edvinsson was won by Michael Rasmussen, whom stashed in the ENG. The Devils found a way to lose a game where they out-shot Detroit 40-20, 5-3. Horrible.
The Devils took their winless streak back to the Rock on Friday night against the Isles. The streak would continue on. In less than 90 seconds, Brock Nelson tipped home an Adam Pelech shot to make it 1-0. They would get an answer from Nico Hischier in the slot later on. Only for Anders Lee to cook Jake Allen on a shot for a PPG to make it 2-1. After knocking over the ref thanks to Noah Dobson, Paul Cotter got up and found Curtis Lazar open. Lazar finished the play to make it 2-2. Only for Kyle Palmieri to tip home an Alexander Romanov shot later in the second period to make it 3-2. The Devils needed an equalizer. It took almost the entire third period and a pulled Allen but they got it when Jesper Bratt roofed a loose puck in front. The Devils forced overtime. Hischier went bar down and out in OT. The Isles would respond with an attack that found Dougie Hamilton lost, Mat Barzal finding Bo Horvat, and Horvat finding Allen’s five-hole. Mark it four as the Devils lost 4-3, ending their week at 0-1-2. They fell from first place and with the games in hand, it is an early concern.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Devils will get one more home game tonight before embarking out West to Canada. That home game is tonight against Anaheim. The Ducks did play yesterday in Manhattan, so the Devils have that advantage on top of the on-paper matchup. The trip will begin late night on Wednesday in Vancouver, who is seemingly righting their own ship as of late. The Devils’ week of games ends on Friday night in Calgary, who has started off this season better than expected. The Devils have to right their own ship and fast.
Carolina Hurricanes
What Happened Last Week: The Carolina Hurricanes kept going on their own trip through Western Canada. They went to Edmonton for Frozen Frenzy Tuesday and came away with another win. It did not look that way after 40 minutes. Connor McDavid scored in the first period and converted a second period power play to put Carolina down two. It seemed that Stuart Skinner was locked in. However, a late high-sticking call on Travis Dermott gave Carolina a power play that carried over into the third period. There, Shayne Gostisbehere converted it to make it a one-shot game. It took sme time and big stops from Frederik Andersen, but the Canes would get that shot. Martin Necas tied up the game with less than seven minutes in regulation. The score held for overtime. It was back and forth with eight shots total in OT. Andersen was huge. Skinner was not so bad. But with 7 seconds left, Sebastian Aho finished a 2-on-1 (and a bizarre Edmonton change) in the zone for the 3-2 OT win.
Carolina remained in the province to play Calgary on Thursday night. The Flames were hot. Carolina did something about that. They owned the first period and went up 1-0 with a power play goal by Seth Jarvis. While Calgary was able to get more shots going in the second period, the Canes went up 3-0 within the first two minutes of the second. Jack Roslovic and Martin Necas each scored before the 2:00 minute mark. The Flames would get on the board with Jake Bean later on in the second. Drama did unfold in the third period. Jonathan Huberdeau made it a one-shot game with just under seven minutes left to play in regulation. But Canes held on and Eric Robinson sealed up the win with an empty net goal. Carolina won 4-2 to end Calgary’s six game point streak. They also secured a winning week in the process.
The Hurricanes ended their week in Seattle last night. They came out hard. They punished a Brandon Montour roughing call with an Andrei Svechnikov PPG early in the first period. The first period ended 15-5 in shots for Carolina. Would they keep up the pressure? Yes. Would they get another goal? Yes. In a 15-7 shot second period, Jack Drury tipped in a Jackson Blake shot late to make it 2-0. The third period was closer on the shot count and Seattle even made it a one-shot game with less than 10 minutes left thanks to Jared McCann. However, Seth Jarvis poured water a comeback with a big insurance goal with less than five minutes left to play. Dmitry Orlov confirmed the win with an empty netter. Carolina swept the week – an impressive feat given it was on the road and far away in Western Canada. They are up to third place and they are absolutely surging.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Hurricanes will finish up their trip on Monday night in Vancouver. We shall see what remains of the Canes by then. They will get two days without a game before their next one. They will host Boston on Halloween. That game will start a four-game homestand for the Hurricanes. A fine set of games to follow their trip out West. Based on their form, they may even move up soon even with just two games coming up this week.
Washington Capitals
What Happened Last Week: The Washington Capitals had a home-and-home with the Philadelphia Flyers to start their week. The game in Philly was for Frozen Frenzy and the rematch in D.C. was on Wednesday. Both were successful results for the Caps. On Tuesday, they went up 2-0 in the first period with not just one but two shorthanded goals. Nic Dowd early in the period and Andrew Mangiapane later on. The Flyers would cut the lead to one 34 seconds into the third period thanks to Travis Sanheim. But John Carlson answered back about a minute later to make it 3-1. Jakob Chychrun secured the 4-1 win with a goal with under six minutes to play. The Capitals continued the scoring in the second game on Wednesday. Taylor Raddysh tipped home a Dylan McIlarth shot to open the scoring the first period. The Caps ran it up to 4-0 before halfway through the middle frame with Nic Dowd and Connor McMichael’s brace in the second period. Philly would make it interesting in the second half of regulation. Travis Konecny scored a PPG and Owen Tippet tipped in an Egor Zamula shot to make it 4-2 going into the third period. Matvei Michkov converted a power play to make it a one-shot game. The Capitals would hold on. They would secure the back-to-back victory with a Pierre-Luc Dubois ENG. Alexander Ovechkin added in another ENG to boost his goal total and the score to a 6-3 result. Two games, four points, well done Washington.
On Saturday night, the Capitals visited Tampa Bay. It was the Andrei Vasilevskiy show. Despite a 17-shot second period out of 32 shots total, the Caps could not beat him. All shots were denied by the Bolts’ main goalie. Charlie Lindgren only needed to be beaten once – and it happened in the second period when Mitchell Chaffee tipped in a Nick Paul shot over five minutes into the period. The Caps tried but, again, they were denied in total. The Lightning got two big insurance goals early in the third period from Brayden Point and Conor Geekie. The Capitals ended up losing the game 3-0 as a result. Their week was successful but it was a sour way to go 2-1-0. They also dropped a spot thanks to Carolina’s surge.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Capitals will get three more home games in this week. They will host the Rangers on Tuesday night. A good measuring-stick game as any for the Capitals team trying to show that they are not to be discounted just yet. On Thursday, the Caps will host Montreal. Then on Saturday, there will be another game within the division as they will host the Columbus Blue Jackets. For the Caps, points are quite possible. Now they just need to get them.
New York Islanders
What Happened Last Week: The Islanders hosted Detroit for their game on Frozen Frenzy. The Isles reached some kind of unusual level of frustration in this game. The Islanders absolutely controlled the run of play. They held the Red Wings to 11 shots. No, not for a period. For the entire game. The Islanders put 30 on Alex Lyon. However, hockey is not fair and Elmont, New York got a massive dose of it. Lyon stopped all 30 shots. Including those from three separate power plays. One of Detroit’s three shots in the first period – a snapshot from Patrick Kane – beat Ilya Sorokin. The Islanders lost 1-0 to a team held to 11 shots on net. Unbelievable? No, believe it.
The Islanders ended their week with a back-to-back set. They went to Newark to play the Devils, whom were in Detroit the night before. The Islanders would get their first goal of the week real fast. Adam Pelech sent a long shot that Brock Nelson tipped in to make it 1-0 in fewer than 90 seconds into the game. Ilya Sorokin did well but he was far from perfect. As shown when he was beat by Nico Hischier in the slot later on. Fortunately for the Isles, Jake Allen was far from perfect and Anders Lee beat him for a PPG minutes later to make it 2-1 going into the second period. The Devils would tie it up early on in the second when Paul Cotter set up Curtis Lazar to make it 2-2. But the Isles responded with another tip-in. Alexander Romanov fired a shot that Kyle Palmieri tipped in to make it 3-2. That held into the third period and all the way with two minutes left. Alas, the Isles blew this lead. With the extra attacker, a loose puck was found by Jesper Bratt and he roofed it over Sorokin for the equalizer. 3-3 and OT was needed. The Isles were inches away from an OTL when Hischier went bar down on a shot but the puck bounced out instead of in. The Isles would respond a bit later with an attack that caught Dougie Hamilton and Jake Allen out of sorts. Ryan Pulock found Mat Barzal open, who found Bo Horvat open in front, who found Allen’s five-hole. The Islanders earned the extra point with the 4-3 result, a fine bounce back from whatever happened in Detroit.
Last night, the Isles had to get up and get going early to host Florida. They appeared to have done just that. Dennis Cholowski scored 92 seconds into the game to make it 1-0 for the Isles. Kyle Palmieri poked a puck in for 2-0 later on. Brock Nelson put home a backhander to make it 3-0. All good right? Well, Sam Reinhart put a crack in that opening period performance by beating Seymon Varlamov. Surely, the Isles would shore up a 3-1 lead? Nope. In the second period, Matt Tkachuk (for his first of the season!) made it a one-shot game after hitting Varlamov a bunch of times before jamming a puck he stopped into the net. How that wasn’t called, I couldn’t tell you. With fewer than two minutes left, Mackie Samoskevich wrapped in a game-tying goal at 3-3. OK. Not good, but the Isles could just win the third to win the game. Except they lost it. Florida absolutely won it. Sam Bennett deflected in a Tkachuk shot to make it 4-3. Tkachuk put in a PPG to make it 5-3 before the halfway mark of the third. With the Isles having a late power play, they pulled Varlamov for a 6-on-4. It yielded an shorthanded ENG for Gustav Forsling. The Isles lost 6-3 in a game that was 3-0 just twelve minutes into it. Ouch. The Isles did win a game but they ran the gamut of an offense that could not score, an offense that bailed out their defense, and an offense that just stopped as the opposition lit it up. 1-2-0 for the Royal Blue and Orange crew.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Islanders will “enjoy” three games in four nights in this week coming up. They will host Anaheim, who will be finishing up their own three games in four night run through the Metropolitan area, on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they will visit Columbus – who has the advantage of not having played the night before. The Islanders will end their week by visiting Buffalo on Friday. Buffalo has won some games recently so that is no gimmie. After the week they just had, no Islanders fan should trust any given night just yet.
Columbus Blue Jackets
What Happened Last Week: The Columbus Blue Jackets began their short week of two games with a home game against Toronto on Frozen Frenzy. The Maple Leafs did not come out well and the Blue Jackets made them pay for it. The first period featured Columbus scoring three games. James van Reimsdyk and Justin Danforth scored less than a minute apart and Mathieu Olivier made it 3-0 later on. In the second period, Columbus just added to the blowout. Sean Monahan and Olivier made it 5-0. Matthew Knies denied the shutout for Daniil Tarasov late in the second period. It was also a consolation goal. The game was well out of doubt. Columbus further confirmed that with Kirill Marchenko made it 6-1 in the third period. Nick Robertson added another consolation goal shortly thereafter. Regardless, the Blue Jackets ran over Toronto in this one. A 6-2 win that made the home fans and Leaf haters happy.
Columbus’ other game of the week was a road game in Nashville. This was a game that was scoreless in the first period. From the second period onward, the two teams would trade swings on the scoreboard. The Blue Jackets went up in the second period thanks to goals by Kirill Marchenko and Zach Aston-Reese. However, Nashville got a foothold in the game when Filip Forsberg scored just after the halfway mark of the second period. The Preds would tie it up at two each when Cole Smith scored 26 seconds into the third period. Columbus’ Zach Werenski had an answer for that: a goal. A 3-2 lead that lasted all of 1:02 as that was when Alexandre Carrier’s long shot beat the traffic to make it 3-3. The score held all the way to overtime. That alone earned the Jackets a third point out of four to win the week. It would be all that they would get though. Jonathan Marchessault ended it all with a wrist shot to beat Daniil Tarasov in OT. The Blue Jackets lost 4-3. Going 1-0-1 in the week is still something to build on.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Blue Jackets will play four games in the next six nights in this week. The short week they just had is now in the past. Their busy week starts at home to play Edmonton on Monday. The Oilers may have not started they way they wanted to, but they cannot be treated lightly. Just ask Pittsburgh. On Wednesday, they will host the Islanders. The Isles will be coming off a game in Long Island on Tuesday so the Blue Jackets will have a rest advantage. At the end of the week, the Jackets will have a tough back-to-back set. They will host Winnipeg on Friday and then visit the Capitals on Saturday.
Pittsburgh Penguins
What Happened Last Week: The Pittsburgh Penguins began their week on the road in Winnipeg. As the only game in the division on Sunday night and one of three, they got attention. Not good attention, though. After a scoreless first, the first five minutes and change of the second period went quite well for the Pens. Kevin Hayes put in an PPG and Lars Eller made it 2-0. This lasted for close to seven minutes. Then the bottom fell out. Kyle Connor, Mark Schiefele, and with 31 seconds left in the period, Vladislav Nemestnikov made it a 3-2 game for Winnipeg going into the third period. Pittsburgh would respond as Eller tied it up early in the third. Once more, the Penguins collapsed. Adam Lowry restored the lead for Winnipeg. Mason Appleton added an insurance goals minutes later. Nino Niederreiter put an empty netter for the touchdown on a tough loss for the Penguins, 6-3. Alex Nedeljkovic ate all six goals against; he may not be the answer to their goaltending questions.
Tuesday night in Calgary would go somewhat better for the Penguins. The Flames have been hot and it seemed that the game would go their way when Rasmus Andersson scored in the first period. But the Penguins responded in the second period with a PPG by Bryan Rust. The two teams traded off goals in the third period. Rickard Rakell’s early goal was matched by MacKenzie Weegar. A wraparound by Noel Acciari was answered in the final minute by Nazem Kadri. The latter being brutal as the Penguins were less than a minute away from a win. Overtime featured two shots to zero for the Pens but solved nothing. In the shootout, the three-rounds ended up tied at 2-2 with goals by Rakell, Anthony Mantha, Andersson, and Rust. The difference came in the sixth round: Justin Kirkland scored and Evgeni Malkin did not. The Penguins lost 4-3 but at least got a point in the shootout; their first point since the previous Wednesday’s OT win over Buffalo.
The trip continued in Alberta on Friday night. It did not get better. In fact, Edmonton pretty much skated them off the rink. Joel Blomqvist was a hero with 19 saves out of 19 in the first period. He made it all the way to 30-something saves before the Oilers would beat him. And they would when Leon Draisaitl scored 13 minutes into the second period. Evan Bouchard made it 2-0 later on. And just 16 seconds into the third period, Ryan-Nugent Hopkins made it 3-0. Mattias Ekholm scored a PPG at exactly 7 minutes into the third period. All the while, the Oilers were just burying the Penguins with shots. Did Pittsburgh respond? Not on the scoreboard. Stuart Skinner shut them out with 27 saves. Poor Blomqvist, he faced 50 shots and suffers the loss in his record with the 4-0 result. Brutal, Penguins.
On Saturday night, the Penguins visited Vancouver. They would score in the first period thanks to Anthony Beauvillier. They even went up 2-0 with a wraparound early in the second period thanks to Bryan Rust. Then, like so many times on this trip, it all fell apart. Pittsburgh proceeded to give up the next four goals. All within five minutes. Elias Pettersson, Kiefer Sherwood, J.T. Miller, and Arshdeep Bains all torched Alex Nedeljkovic to turn a 2-0 game for the Penguins into a 4-2 game for the Canucks. The Penguins had no answer for this in the second period. They would find one and some hope in the third period. Evgeni Malkin scored with less than seven minutes left to make it a one-goal game. However, Kevin Lankinen and the Canucks would not allow one more goal. Vancouver held on. Pittsburgh lost 4-3. Their week-long trip was awful. They went 0-3-1 and have been winless for five straight games now.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Penguins are back home. That has to be a huge relief given how bad their trip was last week. They will host Minnesota on Tuesday, Anaheim on Halloween, and Montreal on Saturday. On paper, the Penguins should get some results. Given how their season is going on the back end and the nature of hockey, nothing is guaranteed for the Black and Gold. But they need those results as soon as possible.
Philadelphia Flyers
What Happened Last Week: The Philadelphia Flyers had a home-and-home with the Capitals. It went badly. The Capitals won the Tuesday night game in Philly by a decisive 4-1 score. The Flyers power play not only failed to score twice in the first period but they conceded shorthanded goals to Nic Dowd and Andrew Mangiapane. Brutal. Travis Sanheim provided some brief hope early in third period to make it 2-1. Washington responded just over a minute later with a goal by John Carlson to make it 3-1. Jakob Chychrun added a fourth goal to secure a clear loss for the Flyers. Wednesday would not go much better for Philly in D.C. the Capitals would go up by 4-0 before Philly got on the board. More specifically, Taylor Raddysh scored in the first period with a tip, Dowd scored at 5-on-5, and Connor McMichael put up a brace. All before halfway through the second period. The Flyers would attempt a comeback, though. Travis Konecny scored a PPG in the second period and Owen Tippet made it 4-2 going into the third period. Matvei Michkov made it a one-goal game with a PPG in the third period. But that would be it. The Flyers would not get the fourth goal. Their fate was sealed when Pierre-Luc Dubois put in an empty net goal late in the third period. Alexander Ovechkin added another ENG to make it a 6-3 loss. Two games, two losses, and the Flyers continue to be winless since their season opening win.
On Saturday, the Flyers returned home to host Minnesota for an afternoon game and to begin another back-to-back set of games. Their game against the Wild was exactly that. Despite having just three shots in the first period, Philly scored on two of them. Sean Couturier opened the scoring early and Nick Seeler made it 2-0 before four minutes passed. Clearly, Minnesota locked it down for the period. They would eventually get on the board in the second period when Brock Faber scored with just over five minutes left in the middle frame. Marcus Foligno scored just over 30 seconds later to make it 2-2. And then the scoring just got jacked up. Matvei Michkov scored with 2 minutes left in the second to make it 3-2. That lasted until Joel Eriksson Ek converted a power play with 4 seconds left in the second to make it 3-3. Foligno tipped home a Zach Bogosian shot early in the third to make it 4-3. Philly hit back with a PPG from Travis Konecny and re-took the lead with Couturier’s second of the game minutes later. Jake Middleton made it 5-5 from Minnesota with fewer than seven minutes left. The breakthrough came from Rasmus Ristolainen of all players. He piled a rebound to finish a 4-on-2 rush with fewer than three minutes left to make it 6-5. Couturier secured his hat trick, his fifth point of the game, and, more importantly, Philly’s second win of the season with an empty netter. 7-5 and the Flyers needed that. Better to go 1-2-0 than 0-3-0 or 0-2-1.
What’s Coming Up This Week: The Flyers will also be very busy in this week. They will play four games too, but spread across seven days. Tonight, they will host Montreal. The Flyers did play on Saturday so this completes a back-to-back set for them. The Flyers will head up to Boston on Tuesday, which will not be an easy game at all. The Flyers will return home on Thursday to take on St. Louis and then host Boston for a Saturday afternoon game. The Flyers will have it all to do.
That was the third Weekly Metropolitan Division Snapshot of the 2024-25 season. Now I want to know what you think. Will the Rangers hold on to first or will the Devils or someone else rise above them? How will Carolina’s surge impact the picture for this coming week? Will the Devils win a game to end their slide? What about Pittsburgh? Can Columbus build on a winning week? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about the eight teams in the week that was and the week ahead in the comments. Thank you for reading.