Who's Streaking?
Philadelphia Flyers (15-6-2)
Philadelphia has started off the season at a blazing pace, they have been one of the most dominant teams to start off the season, and don't think this is a fluke. The Flyers are 2nd in the league in goal scoring with 3.5 per game and 6th in the league on defense with just 2.5 goals against per game.
A major factor to why they have been so dominant is the emergence of Claude Giroux and Sergei Bobrovsky. Giroux has scored at a rate of 1 point per game with 23 in 23 games, looking to easily eclipse his career high of 47 points. Bobrovsky has been outstanding in his rookie year, playing 17 games with an impressive 12 wins, and sitting in the top 10 for both save percentage and goals against average.
Detroit Red Wings (13-4-2)
Those of us who watch hockey on a year to year basis, know that Detroit tends to always wind up in the playoffs. Regardless of their start, which this year has been great, they tend to be there at the end. Luckily for us, they aren't looking to take the suspenseful route this year. Don't be surprised if they hold down the top spot in the West for quite some time.
Detroit has once again been an offensive powerhouse, totaling 3.53 Goals per game(2nd in the league), much due to Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Nicklas Lidstrom all scoring over a point per game pace. However, in typical Detroit fashion, secondary scoring is coming from everywhere you look.
Washington Capitals (15-6-2)
It's not very often that you can say a player is having a "down year" when they are third in the league in points, but there may be no other way to describe Alex Ovechkin's season to date. This becomes much less of a problem when you also have the NHL's 5th and 11th leading scorers(Semin, Backstrom). Washington's "big three" are producing better than they ever have.
Away from the usual suspects, Washington is seeing some great play from rookie standout John Carlson, who sits second to Mike Green on the Capitals for ice time. Carlson is a great two way defenseman who is complemented nicely by Green, who has made some strides in his defensive zone play. Goaltending has been a slight issue for the Caps, as rookie Braden Holtby has struggled when backing up Michael Neuvirth(also a rookie). With Semyon Varlamov back in action and Neuvirth now out, Washington is due for some stability at the position, which they should get once Neuvirth returns shortly.
Who's Slumping?
New York Islanders (4-12-5)
It's hard to peg down one reason why the Islanders have been this bad, but the explanation is, it has been way more than one thing. Their last win came on October 21st against Tampa Bay, and frustration is reaching a high in New York. Thought to be due for a breakout year, Josh Bailey has been sent down to Bridgeport. After a solid start Bailey has really struggled to get his offensive game going. The Islanders are 2nd to last in Goals Per Game as well as Goals Against Per Game, and have had issues all over the ice. Another notable stat to look at, is that the Islanders have not won a single game this season when trailing after the 1st period. Although I wouldn't expect them to go winless for this long of a period again this season, don't look for the Islanders anywhere but the golf course come spring time.
New Jersey Devils (7-13-2)
Not straying too far from the same region, the Devils have surprisingly been one of the leagues worst teams this year. Off of the heels of Kovalchuk's 100 Million Dollar contract, expectations were high, if New Jersey's always solid defense could finally get elite level scoring, what reason was there to expect a poor record? Unfortunately things haven't worked too well on either side of ice for New Jersey, they sit 20th in Goals Against, and dead last in Goals For. It has become a season full of question marks for the Devils, Will Kovalchuk turn it around? How long will Parise really be out? and most importantly, Can either of those players help turn around this horrid start?
Edmonton Oilers (5-11-4)
Finally, the least surprising addition to this category, yet again, the Oilers are struggling. Although it seems that this team's young stars are starting to gel, it is blatantly clear that they are a ways off from a complete rebuild. Look for another year in the basement for this team, and another high draft pick. As you may expect from a young team, the Oilers are dead last in Goals Against at an abysmal 3.95, which can largely be attributed to their awful 67.9% penalty kill. While you could chalk this up as part of the rebuild, it may be of concern that the rebuild, as of now, doesn't contain any true standout defenseman. Adam Larsson may already be in the Edmonton Oilers future plans.
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