The Opinionated Alcoholic: Week 5

Welcome back to T.O.A. 2017-18 NHL Power Rankings! This weekend and tonight's scores will be included in Week 6 so these records reflect everything up to 11/3/17. The games that took place tonight will be included on Week 5 as our tabulations concluded after the last game last night.

Continued leveling out of algorithm this week. Only one anomaly thus far in Pittsburgh with a decent record yet negative goal differential.

That wraps up this week, Remember that our blog has an up-to-date Twitter profile that you can follow @TOA_Sports.

Rank	Team	Record	+/-	Power Index
#1	Tampa Bay Lightning	10-2-2 (22 pts.)	Up 1	7.741
#2	L.A. Kings	10-2-1 (21 pts.)	Up 1	7.673
#3	New Jersey Devils	9-3-0 (18 pts.)	Up 1	6.688
#4	Columbus Blue Jackets	9-4-0 (18 pts.)	Up 4	6.423
#5	St. Louis Blues	10-3-1 (21 pts.)	Up 1	6.375
#6	Vegas Golden Knights	8-4-0 (16 pts.)	Down 5	6.063
#7	Ottawa Senators	6-2-5 (17 pts.)	Up 1	5.904
#8	Winnipeg Jets	7-3-2 (16 pts.)	Up 14	5.688
#9	N.Y. Islanders	7-5-1 (15 pts.)	Up 6	5.481
#10	Toronto Maple Leafs	8-6-0 (16 pts.)	Down 5	5.466
#11	Minnesota Wild	5-4-2 (12 pts.)	Up 1	5.068
#12	Colorado Avalanche	7-5-0 (14 pts.)	Up 9	5.042
#13	Chicago Blackhawks	6-5-2 (14 pts.)	Down 3	4.981
#14	San Jose Sharks	7-5-0 (14 pts.)	Up 9	4.938
#15	Philadelphia Flyers	7-6-1 (15 pts.)	Down 4	4.696
#16	Boston Bruins	5-3-3 (13 pts.)	Down 2	4.341
#17	Vancouver Canucks	6-4-2 (14 pts.)	Down 8	4.271
#18	Dallas Stars	7-6-0 (14 pts.)	Down 1	3.788
#19	Washington Capitals	6-6-1 (13 pts.)	Up 5	3.750
#20	Anaheim Ducks	6-6-1 (13 pts.)	Down 1	3.654
#21	Nashville Predators	6-5-2 (14 pts.)	Down 3	3.442
#22	Pittsburgh Penguins	8-5-2 (18 pts.)	Down 10	3.433
#23	Calgary Flames	7-6-0 (14 pts.)	Up 3	3.269
#24	N.Y. Rangers	5-7-2 (12 pts.)	Up 3	3.250
#25	Detroit Red Wings	6-7-1 (13 pts.)	Even	3.089
#26	Florida Panthers	4-7-1 (9 pts.)	Down 10	3.042
#27	Carolina Hurricanes	4-5-2 (10 pts.)	Down 7	3.023
#28	Edmonton Oilers	4-7-1 (9 pts.)	Even	2.063
#29	Buffalo Sabres	4-7-2 (10 pts.)	Even	1.904
#30	Montreal Canadiens	4-8-1 (9 pts.)	Even	1.250
#31	Arizona Coyotes	1-12-1 (3 pts.)	Even	-0.536

Who's Hot?: Jets (14), Avalanche (9), Sharks (9)

Who's Not?: Panthers (10), Penguins (10), Canucks (8)

As the season is in full effect & teams are starting to hit a rhythm, we're finding some trends that have the possibility of becoming statistical anomalies. Just like last season's Tampa Bay anomaly, we have Detroit, Nashville, & the N.Y. Rangers all knocking on the doorstep of weirdness. But, once again, before we continue into this explanation, welcome to the Week #5 T.O.A.'s 2013-14 NHL Power Rankings!

We bring up our first case in Detroit. They are currently ranked 16th & last week were ranked 19th. They are one of 10 teams to have cracked 20 points this season. They have a formidable squad especially with the two huge off-season acquisitions of Stephen Weiss & Daniel Alfredsson. But once you take a deeper look, the team is flawed, which shows up in the rankings. The mean (average) score for "Goals For" (GF) of the top 9 teams are 48.6 goals this season; Detroit has 38. What's kept them in contention in the standing is their amazing "Goals Against" (GA) stat of 37, giving them a +1 goal differential & not anything lower than midway of the pack in the rankings.

Our second case is that of the N.Y. Rangers. The Rangers had a horrific start this season & once sat on the basement thrown for a brief time. Where most N.Y.-centric sports media (like ESPN or S.I.) may falter, TOA prevails & sheds light on their 3 game winning streak. N.Y. may seem to have turned things around, but once again look at the GF. The Rangers are second to last in the category, only posting 25 this season & seriously effecting any chances of redemption unless they really turn things on mid-season. To put it into perspective, Buffalo (which is just a dumpster-fire at this point), has more goals this season & is ranked last.

And finally we come to Nashville, who was in our sight since last week. Nashville is sporting a respectable 7-5-2 record, which at this pace may earn them a playoff spot come April. But for a slightly-above mediocre record comes consequences. Nashville has a -9 goal differential this year & a low 31 GF (a deadly combination). This data, to the logical mind, transforms into a narrative of low-scoring close wins & blow out losses. If the Preds qualify once playoffs come, they will most likely be out in the first round due to their lack-luster scoring (sorry Preds fans, but they need to pick it up). Anyways, hope you guys enjoy the Week #5 T.O.A. Power Rankings, we'll keep tracking these anomalies as they continue to grow:

Rank	Team	Record	+/-	Power Index
#1	San Jose Sharks	10-1-3 (23 pts.)	Even	7.8571
#2	Colorado Avalanche	12-1-0 (24 pts.)	Even	7.6154
#3	St. Louis Blues	8-2-2 (18 pts.)	Even	6.75
#4	Anaheim Ducks	11-3-1 (22 pts.)	Up 2	5.9334
#5	Chicago Blackhawks	9-2-4 (22 pts.)	Up 5	5.9334
#6	Pittsburgh Penguins	11-4-0 (22 pts.)	Up 2	5.8667
#7	Tampa Bay Lightning	10-4-0 (20 pts.)	Down 3	5.7857
#8	Phoenix Coyotes	10-3-2 (22 pts.)	Up 1	5.4667
#9	Toronto Maple Leafs	10-5-0 (20 pts.)	Down 2	5.3334
#10	Boston Bruins	8-5-0 (16 pts.)	Down 5	4.6923
#11	Vancouver Canucks	10-5-1 (21 pts.)	Up 2	4.5
#12	N.Y. Islanders	8-4-0 (16 pts.)	Even	4.0714
#13	Minnesota Wild	8-4-3 (19 pts.)	Up 1	4.0667
#14	L.A. Kings	9-6-0 (18 pts.)	Down 2	4.0667
#15	Montreal Canadiens	8-7-0 (16 pts.)	Down 4	4.0667
#16	Detroit Red Wings	9-4-2 (20 pts.)	Up 3	4
#17	Washington Capitals	7-7-0 (14 pts.)	Up 1	3.9286
#18	Calgary Flames	6-6-2 (14 pts.)	Down 2	3.0714
#19	Ottawa Senators	4-6-4 (12 pts.)	Up 1	2.9286
#20	Dallas Stars	6-6-2 (14 pts.)	Up 2	2.8571
#21	Nashville Predators	7-5-2 (16 pts.)	Up 3	2.5
#22	Columbus Blue Jackets	5-8-0 (10 pts.)	Down 5	2.2308
#23	Winnipeg Jets	5-8-2 (12 pts.)	Down 2	1.7334
#24	N.Y. Rangers	6-7-0 (12 pts.)	Down 4	1.2308
#25	Carolina Hurricanes	4-7-3 (11 pts.)	Down 2	0.7857
#26	New Jersey Devils	3-7-4 (10 pts.)	Even	0.6429
#27	Edmonton Oilers	3-10-2 (8 pts.)	Down 2	0.2667
#28	Florida Panthers	3-8-3 (9 pts.)	Down 1	0.2143
#29	Philadelphia Flyers	4-9-0 (8 pt.)	Down 1	-0.0769
#30	Buffalo Sabres	2-13-1 (5 pts.)	Even	-1