Mark
Since I don’t know a ton about the NHL, I’ve tapped into the wisdom of my buddy Matt to produce a weekly top 10 power ranking for this article. He’s even added a text blurb for each ranking! Will this ever appear for the NBA? Only time will tell.
Again, this is not intended to be an all-inclusive listing of every nationally televised NBA or NHL game; rather, it’s purpose is to present the best games of the week for consumption by the casual fan.
NBA
Monday (10/30) San Antonio Spurs at Boston Celtics (7:30 PM EST, NBATV)
Tuesday (10/31) Oklahoma City Thunder at Milwaukee Bucks (8:00 PM EST, NBATV)
Thursday (11/2) Golden State Warriors at San Antonio Spurs (8:00 PM EST, TNT)
Friday (11/3) Cleveland Cavaliers at Washington Wizards (7:00 PM EST, ESPN)
Friday (11/3) Boston Celtics at Oklahoma City Thunder (9:30 PM EST, ESPN)
NBA Power Rankings
1. Golden State Warriors
2. Cleveland Cavaliers
3. Houston Rockets
4. San Antonio Spurs
5. Boston Celtics
6. Oklahoma City Thunder
7. Washington Wizards
8. Milwaukee Bucks
9. Toronto Raptors
10. Minnesota Timberwolves
NHL
No truly strong national TV games this week. This time of year is still dominated by football.
Matty D’s NHL Power Rankings
1. Tampa Bay Lightning
-Tampa led by red hot Nikita Kucherov with 12 goals and Steven Stamkos’s 21 points which are both good for the league lead. Can Tampa stay healthy this season? Could be a big year if they can.
2. Los Angeles Kings
-LA has flown out of the gates behind the resurgence of Anze Kopitar who leads his team with 7 goals and 13 points. After a disappointing season, the captain has almost already caught his last year goal total of 12.
3. St. Louis Blues
-The Blues finally started to get some secondary goal scoring from their bottom six this week. Despite key early season injuries, St Louis has packed a punch from the blue line and has had balanced goaltending.
4. Las Vegas Knights
-It’s hard not to drink the Kool-Aid at this point of the season. Despite the loss of their two top net minders, they have continued their great play to the tune of a 8-1-0 start. Beware, 7 of their first 9 have come at home – can they keep up their play outside of the desert?
5. New Jersey Devils
-The young Devils are a lot of fun to watch in this early season. They have gotten balanced scoring and solid goaltending from both net minders. The kids skate fast and put up goals and are a blast to watch.
6. Vancouver Canucks
-Vancouver, while not impressive on the score sheet are finding ways to string wins together. They have won 4 of their last 5 behind stingy defense (3rd in goals against) and timely penalty killing at 8th in the league.
7. Pittsburgh Penguins
-The defending Champs are off to a slow start which nobody expects to last long, so get the W’s vs the Pens when you can. Three of their 7 wins have come in OT, so their record looks better than it could be.
8. Toronto Maple Leafs
-Led by Auston Matthew’s 8 goals and 15 points, the young run and gun Leafs are back at it. Look for them to only get better as the season goes on with their depth.
9. Columbus Blue Jackets
-Columbus is a bit of a paper tiger because of their 3 OT wins. They are living on the edge a little too much and fans have to be concerned by Artemi Panarin’s lack of goal scoring.The Bread Man topped 30 goals in his first two seasons, he better pick up the pace to hit that mark again.
10. Ottawa Senators
Don’t let the bizarre record fool you. They have 5 OT losses, clean those up and their season could be off to a much better start. With that said, the new OT is a part of the game that the Sens need to clean up.
