Keeping up with the Metropolitans: Week 5

Your weekly dose of Metropolitan action!

By t.cann112 Nov 6, 2017, 9:00am EST

NHL: Pittsburgh Penguins at Edmonton Oilers

Now that the first month of this season is in the books, it’s safe to start making some assumptions. First, the Devils do not appear to be going away. They lost a couple of key forwards, but continue to keep on getting production from all their lines and recently got the services of Brian Boyle back from his recent battle with leukemia. His presence should be felt both on and off the ice in New Jersey as they stay in first place in the Metropolitan this week.

The Penguins continue to be all over the place as evident of their recent road trip going 1-3-1 and scoring only 1 goal in 3 out of the 5 games. Tristan Jarry has been called up to stop the bleeding in net, which was not originally planned for his development. Fortunately for the Penguins, the Metro’s performance overall has balanced out more, and being at or near .500 is still in the thick of things. It’s still very early, but there are reasons to be concerned right now as a Pens fan. Nothing that can’t be fixed and this team is far from being an easy opponent. I have complete faith in the players in the room and the man behind the bench to get things clicking on all cylinders again.

The Jackets are continuing to win games, but the story for them again this year is going to be the man between the pipes. The big guns up front for the Jackets aren’t scoring quite as expected early on. Cam Atkinson carried them in the goal department last year, but is currently dinged up and has only put up 4 goals and 1 assist in 11 games so far this season. Artemi Panarin is still their go-to-guy and 11 points in 14 games is not much to complain about, but he has only 1 goal early this year. Five goals between Panarin and Atkinson through 14 games isn’t going to get the Jackets very far this year. Scoring goals isn’t a problem for them now with many goals coming from Sonny MIlano, Josh Anderson, Oliver Bjorkstrand, Zach Werenski and Seth Jones, but will they be able to sustain that pace?

Don’t look now, but the Islanders are right up there with some of the offensive juggernauts in goal scoring this year. They currently have the third most goals scored in the NHL with 54 in 14 games. The problem for them is that the Islanders have also surrendered 46 goals in 14 games. The Islanders are very quietly keeping pace in the Metro Division, so keep an eye on them. They only missed the playoffs by one point last year, so this is the start they needed if they want to make it this year.

The Flyers are a case of the good, the bad, and the ugly this year. The good is shutting out a very good Blues team on the 2nd half of a road back-to-back. The bad is getting shut out the night before in Chicago and the growing list of injuries, including #2 overall pick Nolan Patrick. The ugly is losing to last year’s worst team, Colorado, at home in a shootout and also losing to the 0-10-1 Coyotes. Somebody had to do it. I’m not going to be feeling sorry for the Flyers any time soon.

It’s not quite time to panic in DC, but sitting in 6th place in the division a month into this season has got to be alarming for their fans. Fortunately for them, November looks to be an easier month on the Capitals. They play 14 games in the month of November - 9 home and 5 on the road. They close out the month starting a 5 game home-stand (plus 4 days rest), and also the Caps will only have two travel days in a 25 day span from November 16-December 11 with 9 home games in the middle. Now is the time for them to rebound from their slow start and start to play at the level they have been at the past couple of years.

The Rangers are also trying to work their way out of an early hole they dug for themselves. Last week was a very good week for the Rangers and something for them to build from. They kept the red-hot Lightning at bay in Tampa and stunned them with a 2-1 OT game before also taking down the Panthers in OT two nights later in Sunrise. That capped off a much needed 3 game win streak for the Rangers to move them out of the basement in the Metropolitan this week.

Meanwhile, the Hurricanes are on a four game (0-2-2) losing streak, and are falling behind in games played. The Canes do have 3 games this week, and are going to need to win a couple to keep up with the Division. Many people expected them to be a much improved team this year, but so far that has not been the case. The Canes just lost back-to-back games against the Avalanche and Coyotes. It’s not too late to turn things around, but that’s not a good look.