2014-15 NHL Power Rankings: Flyers climb one spot

1. Nashville Predators (Last Week: 1; 29-9-4, 62 points) – Nashville has earned a point in all nine of its games since Christmas and has four straight wins. The Preds are tied for the league lead in points, despite playing in the league's toughest division.

2. St. Louis Blues (LW: 3; 27-13-3, 57 points) – The Blues have won five straight by a combined 19 goals and smacked the Sharks by matching 7-2 scores twice in less than a week.

3. Chicago Blackhawks (Last Week: 2; 28-13-2, 58 points) – Jonathan Toews was named one of the captains for the All-Star Game that is coming up on Jan. 25. That also means the guy nicknamed "Captain Serious" will be one of the personalities responsible for drafting a team in the fantasy draft on the 23d. Yeah, I think I'm going to pass.

4. Anaheim Ducks (LW: 4; 28-10-6, 62 points) – The Ducks have won four of five, including victories over St. Louis and Nashville. More importantly, the team retired Teemu Selanne's No. 8 on Sunday. The only disappointment for Anaheim this week was the lack of Paul Kariya at the ceremony. Since retiring in 2011 because of concussions, Kariya has been outspoken about the way the league has handled illegal hits, and he has stayed away from the sport.

5. New York Islanders (LW: 6; 29-13-1, 59 points) – The Islanders won a statement game in the Garden over the streaking Rangers, 3-0, Tuesday and fired 44 shots on Henrik Lundqvist. The Isles are back on top of the Metro (still a terrible division name), but will play the Penguins on Friday and host the Rangers in a rematch next Tuesday.

6. New York Rangers (LW: 9; 24, 12-4, 52 points) – The Rangers had won 13 of 14 before losing against the Islanders and swept a California road trip against Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Jose. New York is second in the Eastern Conference in goal differential (plus-26).

7. Pittsburgh Penguins (LW: 7; 26-10-6, 58 points) – Olli Maatta's nightmare season is over after it was determined he would need surgery on the shoulder he reinjured in December. The promising defenseman already had a malignant tumor removed and had the mumps.

8. Montreal Canadiens (LW: 8; 27-12-3, 57 points) – Do people realize how good Max Pacioretty is? He has 20 goals and is fifth in the league with 153 shots. Last year, he finished fourth in goals (39) and 10th in shots (270) and missed nine games. He has had a positive relative Corsi rating (a comparison of how his team performs when he's on the ice vs. when he's off it) every regular season of his career, according to behindthenet.ca. Oh, and he's American. Okay, I'm done shilling for Max Pacioretty for now.

9. Tampa Bay Lightning (LW 5; 27-14-4, 58 points) – Steven Stamkos, he of 25 goals through 45 games, said last week he has "a lot more to give." I may or may not be checking the Lightning's odds to win the Cup right now.

10. Washington Capitals (LW: 10; 24-11-8, 56 points) – Poor Justin Peters. He had to see an opportunity in Washington, where Braden Holtby had yet to solidify himself as a No. 1, when he signed there over the summer. So far this season, Peters has played only seven games and hasn't started since Nov. 29. He has waited so long, the team sent him to the AHL for a conditioning stint. Peters is supposed to play this weekend, but Holtby shut out the Flyers in his 20th straight start and 26th straight appearance. In those 20 starts, Holtby is 14-2-4 with a 1.98 goals-against average and a .934 save percentage. I'll believe Peters is playing when I see it.

11. Detroit Red Wings (LW: 11; 23-11-9, 55 points) – The Wings have won three of four, but lost Jimmy Howard for 2-4 weeks with a slight groin tear.

12. Boston Bruins (LW: 17; 23-15-6, 52 points) – Here come the Bruins. They've won four straight, and 18-year-old Czech rookie David Pastrnak, who returned last Thursday from the World Junior Championship, has two goals in each of his last two games.

13. Winnipeg Jets (LW: 16; 22-14-8, 52 points) – Winnipeg finally made it through the week without a key injury, and even got forward Evander Kane and defensemen Zach Bogosian and Tobias Enstrom back from injury. The Jets, who hold the top wild-card spot in the West, capped the big week with Mathieu Perreault's four goals in Tuesday's 8-2 win over Florida.

14. Los Angeles Kings (LW: 14; 20-14-10, 50 points) – The Kings have the league's best Corsi percentage, but have lost four of five to fall to seventh in the West. In other words, they'll trade for Scott Hartnell at the trade deadline and win another Cup.

15. San Jose Sharks (LW: 12; 23-16-5, 51 points) – The Sharks are sixth in the 14-team Western Conference. They're treading water with a minus-one goal differential. One of the top results in my Google News search was a story about how Patrick Marleau sold a house. The Sharks came into the year in flux and, of all the possibilities for their season, boring seemed like the least likely and worst result.

16. Vancouver Canucks (LW: 13; 23-15-3, 49 points) – The Canucks lost three straight games and scored only two goals in that span. They're 11th in the West with 114 goals this season.

17. Dallas Stars (LW: 15; 19-16-7, 45 points) – If hockey gods exist, this team will find a way to the playoffs. The Stars are fourth in the league in goals per game (3.07) and 28th in goals against per game (3.29), and unofficially lead the league in four-man breakouts and two-on-ones against. Watching the Stars is like watching hockey's alternate universe in which the neutral-zone trap and defensive systems never became a thing.

18. Calgary Flames (LW: 19; 22-18-3, 47 points) – After the Flames suffered three straight one-goal losses, 23-year-old Joni Ortio shut out the Canucks, 1-0, in his first career start Saturday.

19. Florida Panthers (LW: 20; 20-12-9, 49 points) – Going into Friday, the Panthers were tied for fifth in the league with 93 goals against. Three games and 15 goals against later, the Panthers are 11th in the NHL. Despite the onslaught, the Panthers won two of those three games.

20. Toronto Maple Leafs (LW: 21; 22-19-3, 47 points) – This week was more of the same for the Leafs despite the new coach. Peter Horachek has lost three of four, and the team has dropped five of six overall.

21. Colorado Avalanche (LW: 23; 18-17-9, 45 points) – Calvin Pickard has been a bright spot in Colorado's disappointing season. The 22-year-old netminder has a league-best .936 save percentage in 15 games this season. Despite his stellar performance, Pickard has been shuttling between the AHL and NHL lately to start wherever he is most needed, as Semyon Varlamaov still has the starting job on the big club.

22. Columbus Blue Jackets (LW: 18; 18-20-3, 39 points) – The Jackets have lost three straight and were outshot by at least 12 in each game.

23. New Jersey Devils (LW: 25; 16-21-8, 40 points) – The Devils have resembled a professional hockey team recently, winning three of their last five, but they still have the third-worst goal differential in the East (minus-26).

24. Minnesota Wild (LW: 22; 18-19-5, 41 points) – The Wild have lost six straight and given up 29 goals in that span. Minnesota responded by trading for Devan Dubnyk, who had a .916 save percentage in 19 games as a backup in Arizona.

25. Ottawa Senators (LW: 24; 17-17-8, 42 points) – The Sens have lost four of five and are closer to the Sabres than the Lightning, Canadiens, or Red Wings.

26. Flyers (LW: 27; 17-20-7, 41 points) – Rob Zepp feels like the subject of a sports movie. Instead, he's probably going to end up one of the few positive bright spots on what has the potential to be a historically bad season in franchise history. Right now, the Flyers are the sixth-worst team in the NHL based on point percentage. Since its last Cup (I won't go there and bring up how long ago that was), Philadelphia has "earned" a top-six pick only four times, and once since 41-year-old Eric Lindros was drafted.

27. Carolina Hurricanes (LW: 29; 14-24-5, 33 points) – I really wanted to be sarcastic about Jordan Staal's return, but Carolina has been legitimately better since he came back. The 'Canes are 4-2-1 with a plus-one goal differential in his seven games. They're not exactly a contender, but that represents huge strides for a team that has been last in the Metro for much of the season.

28. Arizona Coyotes (LW: 26; 16-22-4, 36 points) – I'm pretty sure the highlight of the Coyotes' season will be the throwback jerseys they'll wear on March 5, a huge improvement over the boring and bland maroon sweaters, and a better distraction from Mike Smith and his .885 save percentage.

29. Edmonton Oilers (LW: 30; 10-25-9, 29 points) – George Costanza was probably right leaving on a high note. Unfortunately for the Oilers, they can't. After Friday's win over Chicago, it can get only worse.

30. Buffalo Sabres (LW: 28; 14-27-3, 31 points) – So, kids, you want to start in an All-Star Game? First, become passably good at the sport of your choice, then, and most importantly, create a false identity in which you represent a small country. The more uncommon the country you choose, the better. Then, just wait for the bandwagon support. Just look at Buffalo's Zemgus Girgensons, supposedly of Latvia, who was the leading vote-getter for this year's game.