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Boston Bruins: Bruins stay hot in Atlantic power rankings

By Raymond Crane

BOSTON - OCTOBER 14: Boston Bruins' David Pastrnak, (88, far left) celebrates his goal against the Anaheim Ducks with Bruins teammates Jake DeBrusk (74) and Patrice Bergeron (37) during the first period. The Boston Bruins host the Anaheim Ducks in a regular season NHL hockey game at TD Garden on Oct. 14, 2019. (Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
BOSTON - OCTOBER 14: Boston Bruins' David Pastrnak, (88, far left) celebrates his goal against the Anaheim Ducks with Bruins teammates Jake DeBrusk (74) and Patrice Bergeron (37) during the first period. The Boston Bruins host the Anaheim Ducks in a regular season NHL hockey game at TD Garden on Oct. 14, 2019. (Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images) /
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7. Detroit Red Wings

Appearing in this spot last week, the Red Wings didn’t give me enough reason to move them up in the power rankings.

With that being said, I have been very impressed with the hot start by Anthony Mantha this year. The 25-year old vet looks like a much-improved player whose impressive power-speed combo has proven to be able to win Detroit games this year.

He’s the type of player that the Bruins wished Jimmy Hayes had turned into, and I think that he provides Detroit with a much needed game changing presence.

On tap next for the Wings is a Canadian West Coast road swing which could result in a ranking rise next week if they can obtain positive results over the likes of Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton.

6. Montreal Canadiens

Moving down the Canadiens one spot since last week is more contributed to the rise of the Florida Panthers, than a set back by the Montreal Canadiens.

Like the Senators, the Canadiens have shown inconsistency in their competitions to begin the season, but they have been able to keep every match-up close as they have not yet lost a game by more than a two-goal deficit.

In the early part of this decade the Canadiens were the most feared opponent of the Boston Bruins as their speed combated well against the Bruins size. Recently though it has been a different story.

The Bruins have acquired speed (Jake DeBrusk and Karson Kuhlman) while the Canadiens have arguably gotten smaller.

I don’t fear the Canadiens the way I used too, and I think that their organization has more work to do before they can challenge the Bruins for a top three spot in the division.

The Canadiens only lost 12 games at home in 2018-19 while Boston handed them two of those home losses. We’ll see if the trend can continue into this season when the Bruins take on the Canadiens on the road in three weeks’ time.

5. Florida Panthers

Entering the season, I expected the fifth spot in the power rankings to be held by the Buffalo Sabres, but after a rough start by Sergei Bobrovsky, we find the Panthers barely holding onto a top five spot.

The good news: The Panthers saw improvement in the second week of the NHL season as they grabbed points in all three games of the week.

The bad news:  The upcoming schedule has the Panthers playing seven games against teams who have a combined record of 29-10-1.

We’ll see if the Panthers are the real deal or not after these next seven games, as this could largely affect the type of playoff race we expect to have in the Atlantic division this season.

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