NHL Power Rankings: Competition for Avalanche in West; Bruins keep climbing

In this week’s edition of the NHL Power Rankings the Colorado Avalanche keep their hold on the first place spot, while the Boston Bruins continue their climb and approach the top-five of the rankings.

While the Eastern Conference Playoff picture has been set for months, the Western Conference has been a little bit more jumbled with teams still fighting for spots and seeding. The Edmonton Oilers, Vegas Golden Knights, and Dallas Stars are fighting for two spots, with the Golden Knights needing a strong push in the stretch run while also hoping for some help along the way. The big question, though, is if anybody can challenge the Avalanche in the West.

Calgary is looking like the team with the best chance to overtake them given their defense and goaltending, along with the dominance of their top forward duo of Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk. But do not sleep on the Minnesota Wild. Marc-Andre Fleury‘s overall numbers may not be great this season but he is still capable of going on a run and carrying a team, and it only takes one goalie to change a playoff run. Nashville, with Juuse Saros and some monster seasons from Filip Forsberg, Matt Duchene, and Roman Josi could also cause some havoc.

We take a look at all of that and more in this week’s rankings.

Where does your team sit?

1. Colorado Avalanche (Last Week: 1). Bet you did not expect to see Nazem Kadri as their leading scorer this season. Combination of Kadri having a career year and some injuries to Colorado’s top players helped get him there, but he has been sensational. As have the Avalanche as a whole.

2. Florida Panthers (LW: 4). Their defensive additions at the trade deadline are curious, but this offense is the best in the NHL. By a pretty significant