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NHL Power Rankings: Incredible run takes Islanders to top spot

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The Boston Bruins host the New York Rangers on Friday, November 29 at 1:00 p.m. ET for the 2019 NHL Thanksgiving Showdown. Watch live on NBC and the NBC Sports app.

In this week’s PHT Power Rankings we move the New York Islanders to the top spot because it is really the only logical choice.

They have the best record in hockey, they are on an incredible 15-0-2 run that has seen them collect a point in 17 consecutive games, and they continue to prove to any lingering doubter still waiting for them to fail that their 2018-19 turnaround was no fluke.

One of the biggest drivers of their recent stretch has been the play of the Brock Nelson, Anthony Beauvillier, and Derick Brassard line that has been dominant over the past few weeks. They helped keep the point streak alive in Pittsburgh this past week by powering a late third period rally. This season that trio has outscored teams by an 8-2 margin when together during 5-on-5 play while they have been one of the team’s most dangerous lines offensively.

Along with them, Mathew Barzal has been better than a point-per-game player during the streak, the defense has been a rock, and the goaltending duo of Semyon Varlamov and Thomas Greiss has been outstanding (especially Greiss).

Right now they are the only choice for the top spot.

After them, we have a couple of new teams crack the top-five this week.

Where does your team currently sit?

To the rankings!

1. New York Islanders. Lot of under-the-radar contributors for this team but perhaps none more than Brassard who seems to have rediscovered his career here.

2. Boston Bruins. Only five players in Bruins history have scored 50 goals in a season, and no one has done it since Cam Neely during the 1993-94 season. David Pastrnak has 59 games to get 30 goals to accomplish it. He can do it.

3. Dallas Stars. A few weeks ago they looked like a team that needed a coaching change. Since then they are 13-1-1, have rocketed up the standings, and are looking like the team they were supposed to be. Great goaltending helps a lot.

4. Washington Capitals. Would not be a surprise to see this team playing into mid-June and skating around with a big trophy at the end of it.

5. Carolina Hurricanes. That four-game losing streak at the start of November is looking like a distant memory. They have won six out of seven and seem to be back on track.

6. Edmonton Oilers. I give them credit for opening the week with the best record in the Western Conference. I am still having trouble going all in on them, though. After starting the season 7-1-0 they have played 18 games and won nine of them. That is ... okay. They are still entirely dependent on Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to be better than everyone else.

7. St. Louis Blues. It is impressive the way they have collected points without Vladimir Tarasenko but the offense is still a big question mark.

8. Tampa Bay Lightning. It seems like this sleeping giant is starting to wake up.

9. Arizona Coyotes. One of the league’s best goaltending duos is turning them into a playoff team.

10. Pittsburgh Penguins. Mike Sullivan is turning in a Jack Adams level coaching performance this season. Everything about the way this team is playing points to a Stanley Cup contender if they can just keep their best players on the ice.

11. Colorado Avalanche. Once Mikko Rantanen and Gabriel Landeskog return they will be back in the top-five in a very short period of time. Cale Makar, meanwhile, looks like he is ready to start running away with the rookie of the year race.

12. San Jose Sharks. They are finally starting to look like the Sharks again -- a great team that can overcome consistently sup-par goaltending.

13. Winnipeg Jets. Connor Hellebuyck is playing the best hockey of his career and is not getting enough credit for it.

14. Florida Panthers. The Panthers are in the same position as they were a year ago where a playoff caliber offense is getting sunk by lousy goaltending. The problem this year is they just gave a goalie $70 million over seven years in an effort to solve the goaltending problem.

15. New York Rangers. They are very quietly hanging around and starting to play better. Artemi Panarin has been worth every penny.

16. Montreal Canadiens. Losing Jonathan Drouin and Paul Byron is going to be a lot for this team to overcome right now offensively.

17. Vegas Golden Knights. They still have not won a game this season that Marc-Andre Fleury has not started. That is a problem, because they can not rely on him to play 65 games.

18. Vancouver Canucks. This current road trip is going to be a big test for them. So far it is off to a promising start.

19. Toronto Maple Leafs. It is only two games but they have looked like a completely different team with Sheldon Keefe behind the bench. Do not be surprised if it continues. This team needed a coach that would let them play to their strength. They needed this change.

20. Philadelphia Flyers. We just need to accept this fact this team is capable of winning six games in a row at any time and losing six games in a row at any time. Which team will you get? That is the mystery!

21. Buffalo Sabres. This season is starting to look an awful lot like the 2018-19 season in Buffalo. This team really does not do anything well.

22. Nashville Predators. Viktor Arvidsson is out for more than a month because of a cheap shot, and Kyle Turris can no longer seem to crack the lineup. There are a lot of problems in Nashville right now.

23. Ottawa Senators. They are not a playoff team right now, but they are not rolling over and giving up. They are a tough team to play right now.

24. Chicago Blackhawks. That four-game winning streak made things a little interesting in Chicago, but they have followed it up with three consecutive losses and their schedule over the next five games is brutal (Dallas, Colorado twice, St. Louis, and Boston).

25. Columbus Blue Jackets. Cam Atkinson only having four goals through the first 22 games of the season is a big problem. He has been one of the most underrated goal-scorers in the league and they need him to get rolling again.

26. Calgary Flames. You had to expect some regression this season, but this is a little much.

27. New Jersey Devils. They made all of those moves this summer and ignored the biggest weakness on the team (their goalies). Very strange.

28. Minnesota Wild. They were two minutes away from putting together their first three-game winning streak of the season, only to completely fall apart against Boston.

29. Los Angeles Kings. Anze Kopitar is having the bounce-back season the Kings needed him to have. Jonathan Quick is not.

30. Anaheim Ducks. Even the goaltending is not there to bail them out right now.

31. Detroit Red Wings. The only good news for the Red Wings is they have a great head start on getting the best draft lottery odds.

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.