NHL Power Rankings: Bruins, Wild peaking at right time

In this week’s edition of the NHL Power Rankings the Boston Bruins and Minnesota Wild continue to inch their way closer to the league’s elite thanks to their great play in recent weeks. While they may not be on the same level as Colorado, Florida, or Carolina in terms of overall record for the season, they are definitely starting to hit their stride at the right time.

The Bruins have been one of the hottest teams in the league for more than a month now and are shaping up to be a brutal opening round matchup for one of the division winners in the Eastern Conference.

In the West, the Wild have been on a 9-0-1 run over their past 10 games and have received a boost from Marc-Andre Fleury who is 3-0 with a .958 save percentage in his first three appearance with the team. Do not sleep on these two as the Stanley Cup Playoffs approach.

We look at those teams and more in this week’s rankings.

Where does your team sit?

1. Colorado Avalanche (Last week: 1). Just a total buzzsaw of a hockey team. Expectations will rightfully be through the roof. Anything less than the Conference Finals would be a massive, massive disappointment.

2. Florida Panthers (LW: 2). The best offense we have seen in the NHL in nearly 30 years. They can embarrass anybody on any given night.

3. Carolina Hurricanes (LW: 3). So good, so deep, so well rounded, and still such a young team. With the goaltending moves paying off there is no obvious weakness to exploit here.

4. Tampa Bay Lightning (LW: 5). Steven Stamkos is still a beast, and they are still a serious contender.

5. Boston Bruins (LW: 6). They are 16-3-1 in their past 20 games. Starting to peak and hit their stride at the right time. Not a team you want to play in a best-of-seven series right now.

6.