Despite a valiant losing effort against Boston and a win over surging Detroit last weekend, the standings are tightening all around the Kraken and others near bottom playoff rungs. Here’s a look at where we see things through Thursday night’s games in our Week 19 NHL power rankings.
1. (1) Boston Bruins, 44-8-5
David Pastrnak logged his third career 40-goal season and later scored 42nd against Kraken in a week Bruins matched the 1979-80 Philadelphia Flyers for fewest games (56) to surpass 90 points.
2. (2) Carolina Hurricanes, 38-10-8
Have gone 13-1-1 in past 15 games to stay within single digits of Bruins in unlikely hope of catching overall standings leaders.
3. (4) New Jersey Devils, 38-15-8
Jack Hughes has five assists in four games since returning from injury, including one on tying goal in Thursday’s final minute before beating Kings in overtime.
4. (3) Toronto Maple Leafs, 35-15-8
Newcomer Ryan O’Reilly scored twice to key a four-goal outburst in first 12:09 of a win in Buffalo — the fifth-fastest four road goals to open a game in franchise history and quickest since 1979.
5. (5) Tampa Bay Lightning, 36-17-3
Needed to rally for an overtime point Thursday against Buffalo but have now dropped three of four.
6. (8) Vegas Golden Knights, 35-18-5
Extended points streak to eight games and Pacific Division lead to three points over Edmonton and Los Angeles with overtime win against Calgary.
7. (6) New York Rangers, 33-16-9
Lost first game of the Vladimir Tarasenko era and saw 10-game points streak end on a day they threw 50 shots at the Jets, then dropped two more contests after that.
8. (9) Edmonton Oilers, 32-19-8
Connor McDavid recorded the 800th point of his NHL career and Leon Draisaitl the 700th on same goal in an Oilers comeback win over Philadelphia during week that saw them again leapfrog Kraken in standings.
9. (10) Winnipeg Jets 35-22-1
Connor Hellebuyck made 50 saves against Rangers on day John Gibson of Anaheim stopped 51. Third time in NHL history two goalies made 50 or more on same day.
10. (7) Dallas Stars, 30-16-12
Five consecutive losses in which they’ve scored just eight goals yet somehow still maintain lead atop Central Division.
11. (12) Los Angeles Kings, 32-19-8
Heading into trade deadline with a playoff spot in hand as they seek left-handed shot defenseman and possibly another goaltender to firm up a goal differential barely on the positive side at +1.
12. (11) Seattle Kraken, 32-20-6
Dropped a costly two points to Bruins in final four minutes Thursday to fall into fourth place in Pacific Division with just three wins in nine games since All-Star break.
13. (13) Colorado Avalanche, 31-19-5
Three straight wins had the Western Conference’s final wild-card spot holder breathing down Kraken’s neck at only three points back of their top wild-card spot.
14. (18) Minnesota Wild, 32-21-5
Marc-Andre Fleury blanked Columbus to become first goalie in NHL history to record shutouts against 29 different teams – two more than the next closest goalies.
15. (19) Detroit Red Wings, 25-20-8
Seven wins in eight games – including against the Washington Capitals in regulation at Capital One Arena for first time in more than eight years – pushed them into the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
16. (17) Calgary Flames, 27-20-12
Elias Lindholm reached 50 points for season and 500 for his career to help struggling Flames cap multi-goal comeback and keep pace in Western Conference wild-card hunt.
17. (16) Florida Panthers, 29-25-6
Waived and lost Chris Tierney to Montreal to clear space to finally get 30-goal scorer Anthony Duclair back from off-season Achilles tear as they prepare for final push at a playoff spot.
18. (14) Pittsburgh Penguins, 27-21-9
Chants of “Fire Hextall!” rained down in Pittsburgh on Thursday as GM Ron Hextall’s slumping team was routed by Edmonton.
19. (22) New York Islanders, 30-24-7
Ilya Sorokin became just the third Islanders goalie in the past 20 years to post consecutive 20-win seasons as team solidified wild-card position.
20. (15) Washington Capitals, 28-26-6
Alex Ovechkin is back with team following father’s death, but Caps have still lost six in a row and surrendered their playoff spot.
21. (21) Buffalo Sabres, 29-23-4
Tage Thompson scored his NHL-leading fourth hat trick of the season on Thursday against Tampa Bay to stay within two points of playoff spot.
22. (20) Ottawa Senators, 27-25-4
Going 7-2-1 in their past 10 has GM Pierre Doiron hinting more about buying than selling at the trade deadline.
23. (25) Nashville Predators, 28-22-6
Ryan Johanssen is out six weeks after being cut by a skate, finishing his season unless the Preds figure out how to pad record against somebody other than bad teams.
24. (26) Montreal Canadiens, 24-29-4
Another week, another linking of Canadiens to Jets center Pierre-Luc Dubois, though it would take awful lot to get deal done with Winnipeg vying for conference title.
25. (24) Philadelphia Flyers, 23-26-10
Samuel Ersson became 11th goalie ever and first Flyers goalie since Bob Froese in 1981-82 to go unbeaten in first six career starts, but team remains in a prolonged tailspin.
26. (23) St. Louis Blues, 26-28-4
Back to usual losing ways following trade of captain Ryan O’Reilly, dropping their past four.
27. (22) Arizona Coyotes, 20-29-9
Nine-game points streak (5-0-4) ended with a regulation loss to Calgary.
28. (28) Vancouver Canucks, 23-30-5
Rallied from a multi-goal deficit Thursday to win for the seventh time in such fashion this season.
29. (30) Chicago Blackhawks, 20-32-5
Hawks captain Jonathan Toews announced that he’s dealing with symptoms of “Long COVID” — putting a crimp on team’s plans to trade him by March 3 deadline — but team has still won four straight.
30. (29) San Jose Sharks 18-30-11
Defenseman Erik Karlsson’s two assists against Kraken marked his 181st multi-point game, tying Thomas Steen for 10th most ever by a Swedish player.
31. (31) Anaheim Ducks, 18-34-7
John Gibson’s 51 saves in an overtime loss to Florida ranks as team’s highlight of the season.
32. (32) Columbus Blue Jackets, 18-35-5
A pair of losses in which they totaled two goals has them back in driver’s seat for Connor Bedard.