The Ottawa Senators have arrived.
Over the last two weeks, the Senators have absolutely dominated the league. With their 4-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday night, the Senators extended their win streak to six, and the sensational play of young phenom Dany Heatley is capturing attention across the league.
Heatley, who has scored 17 goals and added 21 assists, has recorded at least one point in each of Ottawa's first twenty-one games, he is only two games shy of tying Wayne Gretzky's twenty-three game record. Along with superstar Daniel Alfredsson and youngster Jason Spezza, the Senators' line has emerged as the best in the league this season.
The Senators aren't the only team finally playing good hockey. The New York Rangers have elevated their play to a 16-7-3 record, with Jaromir Jagr leading the league in goals and points. For anyone who doesn't watch SportsCenter, the Rangers have also contributed the greatest finish to a game this year.
Last week, their tie game against the Washington Capitols went to a shootout that took 28 shooters to complete (far past the usual six to ten required). The winning goal by New York's Marek Malik, who put his stick between his legs and shot the puck into the top corner past goalie Olaf Kolzig before knocking the water bottle off the goal, will remain one of the greatest hockey goals ever.
While the Senators and the Rangers, along with the Detroit Red Wings and the LA Kings, continue to dominate the power rankings, other teams continue to struggle. The Boston Bruins have landed themselves in the bottom six of the Power Rankings this week after an abysmal three week stretch.
The Bruins have lost nine of their last ten with most of these losses coming as the results of blown third-period leads. Despite getting good performances from their stairs, Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov, the Bruins are ditching their leads faster than the Eagles ditched Terrell Owens. Brain Leetch returns to their lineup soon, which should incite the Bruins to step it up.
By now, everyone has probably seen the clip of Detroit defenseman Jiri Fischer convulsing on the Red Wing bench. Fischer collapsed last week from a seizure which stopped his heart, but was successfully stabilized after being treated with an emergency defibrillator on the bench and then being rushed to the hospital.
The game was postponed and Fischer is currently in stable condition, expected to return in about six weeks. Those harrowing moments when Fischer fell ill incited the Red Wings, who have won three of four, with a combined 21 goals, since the incident.
In trade news, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks dumped off former superstar Sergei Federov to the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets two weeks ago for center Tyler Wright. The trade was the first in-season transaction to clearly demonstrate the implications of the new salary cap. In danger of exceeding the cap, Anaheim was forced to trade the high-stakes Federov. The Blue Jackets are next to last in the power rankings, in front of the hapless St. Louis Blues, and have gotten little help so far from the veteran, who has only three points this season.
Between the ridiculous shootouts, the amazing goals and the constant press, November was an exciting month for the NHL, and December promises to be even better. Be sure to check out the Bruins' games, especially tonight against the scalding-hot Ottawa Senators.
