Power Rankings - Nov. 17

Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals is back on track scoring 10 points in his last four outings. (Photo by Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images)

Ryan Dixon
2008-11-17 14:00:00

You can feel things heating up in the American capital.

After a very ho-hum start, the Washington Capitals are coming to life. Everybody knows Alex Ovechkin got off to a horrid start – and those same people had to know it couldn’t last.

Ovie has five goals and 10 points in his past four games and sophomore Nicklas Backstrom juked his jinx by posting 10 points in his past three games.

The only thing that will stand between the Caps and a runaway Southeast title is the men between the pipes. Jose Theodore, a.k.a. Plan B after Cristobal Huet left town, has looked good at times; others, not so much. And backup Brent Johnson isn’t going to get it done over the long haul.

With top-notch goaltending, this team would be as likely as any to come out of the East.

THE HOCKEY NEWS POWER RANKINGS

RK.	TEAM	LW	OVERALL	L10	THE SCOOP
1		2	15-3-1	8-1-1	On top of everything else, the Sharks' power play is starting to click now, too
2		1	11-2-3	7-1-2	No problem turning to the backup; Ty Conklin is 4-1-0 this season
3		3	10-3-4	8-1-1	Heard a TV analyst say recently, "You can feel Boston coming back to the Bruins." Very good to see
4		4	13-5-2	6-3-1	Need more consistency from youngsters Nigel Dawes and Ryan Callahan
5		11	10-4-1	6-4-0	Special teams have been awesome; penalty-killing is No. 1 in the league, power play is No. 3
6		9	10-4-3	7-1-2	Semin's "upper-body injury" not thought to be very serious
7		12	11-4-2	7-2-1	Six straight wins, including incredible comeback against the Wings for a little revenge last week
8		5	10-4-2	5-4-1	Andrei Kostitsyn has just two goals; Habs need him to be a 30-goal man
9		6	7-4-5	5-2-3	With circus in Chicago, Hawks play next six on the road, where they've won just once in five tries this year
10		10	10-6-1	7-2-1	Just seem a bit less volatile than the other two western Canadian teams and that steadiness will serve them well long term
11		8	10-7-2	6-2-2	Top-four blueliner Francois Beauchemin gone for the year with torn ACL; maybe they can get Schneider back?
12		7	9-5-3	3-5-2	Little bloom coming off the rose as team has given up an average of 4.4 goals per contest while losing four of past five games
13		22	7-6-4	6-3-1	Not there yet, but Flyers finally seem to be rounding into form
14		13	9-7-2	5-5-0	Can you believe Rod Brind'Amour is minus-13? Only Brad Boyes, at minus-14, is worse
15		23	9-7-1	6-3-1	J-P Dumont has 20 points in 17 games to lead Music City crew
16		15	9-8-1	5-5-0	Just getting harder and harder to believe in this team; its top five scorers are all minus players
17		20	8-7-3	5-2-3	Quietly having a fair season so far, but real trick will be staying in the thick of things come spring
18		14	7-7-4	4-5-1	Lots of goals being generated by league's fourth-best power play
19		19	8-8-0	5-5-0	Captain Shane Doan leading the way with nine goals and 17 points through 16 games
20		21	8-7-2	4-4-2	Dustin Penner scratched from the lineup and dressed down by coach Craig MacTavish in the media
21		18	6-8-3	4-4-2	Maybe reacquiring Darryl Sydor will bring back those good, winning vibes to the dressing room
22		17	8-7-2	3-5-2	You know, if I'm a Devils fan, I might just be hoping more for a bottom-out season than a playoff spot
23		24	7-8-2	5-5-0	It took John Anderson a long time to get his crack behind an NHL bench and he's sure doing his best now that he's there
24		16	6-9-2	4-5-1	Could this team really finish last in the Northeast?
25		26	8-8-0	5-5-0	Does Ryan Smyth officially regret signing with this team yet?
26		28	7-8-2	4-4-2	Top scorer, Anze Kopitar, is on pace for just 63 points
27		27	6-9-1	3-6-1	When defenseman Keith Ballard is tied for the team lead with 10 points it's a case of good for Ballard, bad for Florida
28		29	6-8-2	2-6-2	Some reports suggest Andy McDonald fractured his leg after awkwardly sliding into the boards Sunday night
29		25	5-7-5	4-4-2	Everybody's pick to be the first coach fired was Barry Melrose. Mr. Tocchet, good luck to you, sir
30		30	6-9-2	4-4-2	A home-and-home sweep of Ottawa doesn't say as much for your club as it used to

The Hockey News ranks the teams 1-30 each Monday based on a combination of last week’s play and a squad’s overall outlook.

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