Power Rankings - Dec. 1

Joey MacDonald has a 2.89 GAA and .907 SP for the Islanders in place of Rick DiPietro. (Getty Images)

Ryan Dixon
2008-12-01 14:31:00

The name Joey somehow seems appropriate for a scrappy underdog, which is exactly what New York Islanders goalie Joey MacDonald is proving to be.
 
MacDonald has held his own in the Islanders crease since it was left vacant due to Rick DiPietro’s latest injury. MacDonald has a respectable .907 save percentage this year and a winning 10-9-2 record while playing for a team that isn’t exactly a league power.
 
The 28-year-old goalie has certainly been perseverant over the course of his career. Never drafted, MacDonald got his pro start in 2001-02 with the ECHL’s Toledo Storm and spent several years in the American League with Detroit’s farm team, the Grand Rapids Griffins.

The Islanders are his third NHL organization, but he’s finally found a home.

THE HOCKEY NEWS POWER RANKINGS

RK.	TEAM	LW	OVERALL	L10	THE SCOOP
1		1	20-3-1	8-1-1	No regulation time home losses through 13 games this year
2		3	16-4-4	8-1-1	First in goals against, third in goals for and they're coming from everywhere
3		2	15-4-4	6-2-2	Wings giving up 3.04 goals per game, which puts them 23rd in the league
4		5	14-6-3	7-2-1	Pens benefiting from Sidney Crosby's don't-forget-about-me hot streak
5		12	14-8-3	5-3-2	Ryan Getzlaf is becoming an absolute beast
6		6	14-7-1	6-4-0	Antti Miettinen has been a pleasant surprise with 19 points through 22 games
7		8	11-7-5	7-1-2	I think you can start engraving Simon Gagne's name on the Bill Masterton Trophy
8		4	10-6-6	4-3-3	Nikolai Khabibulin's day-to-day injury opens the door for Huet to grab the No. 1 job
9		9	13-8-3	5-4-1	Tomas Fleischmann showing signs Caps were right to be patient with him
10		7	17-8-2	6-3-1	Brandon Dubinsky had points in three of 14 November games
11		10	13-6-4	4-4-2	Current seven-game homestand is longest in franchise history; time for Habs to make some hay
12		11	14-8-2	6-2-2	Lost first contest of an eight-game road trip in Calgary on Saturday
13		16	14-9-1	6-4-0	Reports are Mike Cammalleri is on the block, just as he's getting hot
14		13	12-8-2	5-5-0	Patrik Elias has 14 points in 12 games since Brodeur was injured
15		14	11-10-2	5-4-1	Some thought Patric Hornqvist would be a dark horse in the Calder race; right now, he's in the American League
16		15	12-11-2	4-6-0	Canes are just 6-7-0 at home this season
17		18	11-9-3	3-7-0	Maybe Thomas Vanek is a bargain at $7 million a season
18		21	10-9-3	6-3-1	Giving up a league-low 24.6 shots per game
19		19	8-9-6	3-5-2	People are already loving the tone Brian Burke sets as GM of this team
20		17	10-10-3	5-4-1	Steve Mason's .919 save percentage makes him the obvious choice in goal right now
21		24	10-10-2	5-4-1	Speaking of goalies named Mason, backup Chris Mason has stopped 106 of 109 shots over his last three starts
22		25	11-12-0	6-4-0	Milan Hejduk seemed to rediscover his touch early on, but has one goal in his last 11 games
23		28	10-12-2	6-4-0	19-year-old rookie Josh Bailey is staying with the big club all season
24		22	8-10-4	3-5-2	Approaching the one-year anniversary of becoming an awful team
25		20	10-11-2	4-5-1	Slow starts are killing the Oilers; they've had the lead after one period just five times in 23 games this season
26		30	9-11-3	5-3-2	How about Craig Anderson and his .948 save percentage and 1.87 goals-against average
27		23	8-11-4	3-5-2	Loui Eriksson's 11 goals one bright spot for the Stars
28		27	10-11-2	3-5-2	Mikael Tellqvist is supplanting Ilya Bryzgalov for No. 1
29		26	8-12-3	4-5-1	Ondrej Pavelec's play offers an encouraging glimpse into Atlanta's long-term goalie future
30		29	6-10-7	1-6-3	Tampa had such a high profile in the summer, but have become completely forgettable

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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