Not a whole lot of power-rankings movement among best and worst NHL teams, though the Pacific Division made some top-10 jumps in Week 22.
The Kraken prevailed against San Jose on Thursday, and they’ll need those two points just to keep up.
Here are this week’s rankings (last week’s ranking in parentheses):
1. (1) Boston Bruins, 51-11-5
Clinched playoff spot, then started losing to everybody. Canadiens’ all-time points record of 132 from 1976-77 looking safe.
2. (2) Carolina Hurricanes, 44-14-8
Andrei Svechnikov out for season with a torn ACL? Nothing to see here. Just Andre Burakovsky times 10.
3. (3) New Jersey Devils, 44-17-7
Were looking good until they ran into a Tampa Bay Lightning squad that’s always dangerous this time of year.
4. (5) Vegas Golden Knights, 42-21-6
Had won four in a row and seven of past eight before getting spanked by Calgary on Thursday.
5. (7) Los Angeles Kings, 40-20-9
Extended home points streak to nine games — their most in 19 years — while moving within a point of Vegas for top spot in Pacific Division and Western Conference.
6. (6) Dallas Stars, 37-19-13
Looked playoff dangerous beating Kraken twice but got outscored 9-3 in road losses to Vancouver and Edmonton and suddenly have Colorado breathing down Central Division necks.
7. (4) Toronto Maple Leafs, 40-18-9
Treading water past few weeks since beating the Kraken and now have Tampa Bay only a point behind and looking to flip home ice in anticipated first-round playoff matchup.
8. (8) Minnesota Wild, 39-21-8
Were on an 11-0-3 run and look to be in playoff form despite losing scoring star Kirill Kaprizov for rest of regular season.
9. (9) Edmonton Oilers, 38-23-8
Connor McDavid had 131 points before Saturday’s trip to Seattle, the ninth-most points in a season the past 30 years and within 30 of Mario Lemieux for No. 1 spot.
10. (13) Colorado Avalanche, 39-22-6
Swept an Eastern Canada road trip to Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal for only the second time in Avalanche history to move within three points of lead in Central Division they once trailed by 14.
11. (11) Tampa Bay Lightning, 41-22-6
Nikita Kucherov reached 70 assists for second time in career as Tampa Bay notched consecutive wins at New Jersey.
12. (10) Seattle Kraken, 38-23-7
As of Friday were 23 points before their expansion season, the fourth-biggest such one-year jump in NHL history behind the 1973-74 Islanders (26), the 1925-26 Bruins (26) and 1925-26 Montreal Maroons (25).
13. (12) New York Rangers, 39-19-10
Mika Zibanejad became the second-fastest player to 200 goals with the Rangers, doing so in 472 games and trailing only Hall of Famer Bill Cook’s 363.
14. (14) New York Islanders, 35-27-8
Like Kraken, hoped to hold wild-card spot by not blowing California road games against bottom feeders and started well by beating Anaheim before facing San Jose.
15. (15) Pittsburgh Penguins, 34-24-10
Sidney Crosby notched 81st and 82nd points to clinch his 18th point-per-game season — one shy of Wayne Gretzky’s record.
16. (19) Florida Panthers, 34-27-7
Became fourth team to score seven or more goals in an opening period, Thursday against Montreal. Most recent had been current Kraken GM Ron Francis and the Hartford Whalers in 1985.
17. (16) Winnipeg Jets 38-28-3
In tough stretch facing contenders and not doing great, allowing Calgary within three points and Nashville within four of final Western Conference wild-card spot.
18. (18) Calgary Flames, 31-24-14
Routed Vegas on Thursday but can’t keep losing to teams such as Anaheim and Arizona if they want to continue last-gasp playoff push.
19. (22) Nashville Predators, 34-25-7
Fraud pretenders of Western Conference had taken at least a point in 16 consecutive games against Chicago before losing to Blackhawks in regulation Thursday.
20. (17) Ottawa Senators, 33-31-4
Beat Kraken and then forgot about winning or contending, giving up 21 goals in four losses that all but quash flickering playoff aspirations.
21. (20) Buffalo Sabres, 33-28-6
Seven losses in past nine make any serious playoff bid highly unlikely from here.
22. (24) Vancouver Canucks, 29-33-5
Rick Tocchet has these guys playing as if they’re competing for a Cup, winning five in a row before — yep, Arizona — took them down.
23. (23) Washington Capitals, 33-29-7
Alex Ovechkin scored 402nd goal all-time at home, overtaking former Capitals great Mike Gartner for fourth place on NHL’s all-time list.
24. (25) Arizona Coyotes, 26-32-11
Kraken will be thrilled to know these guys have won five of past six before three games against them in a late schedule they’d hoped would be somewhat soft.
25. (21) Detroit Red Wings, 30-28-9
Had lost eight of past 10 but beat Boston that stretch, so week wasn’t a total loss.
26. (26) St. Louis Blues, 29-33-5
Goalie Jordan Binnington got suspended two games for doing a bad impersonation of vintage 1987 Ron Hextall.
27. (27) Montreal Canadiens, 27-36-6
Gave up seven (!!) first-period road goals to Florida in losing 9-5 just days after yielding eight in home loss to Colorado.
28. (28) Philadelphia Flyers, 24-32-11
Last-ditch “tank” for Connor Bedard continues with four consecutive losses.
29. (30) Chicago Blackhawks, 24-38-6
Completing the remaining cadre of uncooperative cellar dwellers the Kraken were hoping would roll over down stretch, the Blackhawks just took down Boston and Nashville in regulation.
30. (29) Anaheim Ducks, 22-36-10
At least one cream puff team the Kraken play down the stretch is acting the part, losing four of past five.
31. (31) San Jose Sharks 19-36-14
Hey, they tied the Flames for the NHL “loser point” lead with 14 gleaned from overtime and shootout defeats after being beaten in OT by Kraken.
32. (32) Columbus Blue Jackets, 21-39-7
If only the Kraken had games left against them. Blue Jackets appear swarmed by yellow jackets, dropping five of six.