Weekes Friday Four

Each Friday throughout the season Kevin Weekes will be bringing you his Friday Four. He will be blogging about four players, teams, plays, or trends that have caught his eye.

Metropolitan Division

It seems the Metropolitan Division race gets closer and closer each night. All six teams that played Thursday each got at least one point. The New Jersey Devils defeated the New York Rangers 4-3 in a shootout; the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 in a shootout; the New York Islanders lost 5-4 in overtime to the Anaheim Ducks and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Nashville Predators 4-1.
The first-place Devils have 45 points, eight more than the last-place Hurricanes. The idle Washington Capitals have won four in a row and the Philadelphia Flyers, who also had the night off, have won seven of eight following a 10-game losing streak. Claude Giroux, Sean Couturier and Jakub Voracek have been the difference for Philadelphia, which is three points out of a wild-card spot right now. Couturier already has 16 goals, an NHL career high, and goalie Brian Elliott has played exceptionally well for them during the stretch.
No team has pulled away, and this likely will be the closest divisional race of them all. Every game and point is critical, especially when one point can be the difference between playing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs or watching them on TV.

Boston Bruins

I love the way the Bruins are playing overall. They wanted to play faster and differently this season, and they are. They are more up-tempo and have a better transition game. The Bruins defeated the Winnipeg Jets 2-1 in a shootout on Thursday and have won three straight, allowing a total of three goals. They are 8-2-1 in their past 11 games, and there are a lot of reasons for that.

Tuukka Rask has found his game. He's allowed three goals once in nine appearances. And when backup Anton Khudobin has played, he's been great as well. He is 8-2-2 with a .923 save percentage and has stabilized a position of weakness from last season.
Coach Bruce Cassidy has done a nice job; the whole coaching staff and the amateur scouting staff have as well. We know the Bruins have good prospects but Jake DeBrusk, Charlie McAvoy and Danton Heinen are having an impact on a night-to-night basis. One thing I've noticed is Boston is using the width of the rink right now. They don't just go straight, they use the whole ice. Except for Tampa Bay, I don't think anyone is moving the puck as wide laterally as Boston right now, and it's been paying off.

Vegas Golden Knights

As of right now, the Jack Adams Award belongs to Gerard Gallant. That's not to take anything away from any of the other coaches, but he's done an amazing job. Vegas is 22-9-2 and is one point behind the Los Angeles Kings for first place in the Western Conference with 46 points. They don't chase games, they don't panic in games. They have beaten good teams because they are playing good hockey. They beat the Kings and Tampa Bay Lightning recently, two of the best teams in the League.
The goaltending has been incredible. We all know how good Marc-Andre Fleury can be when healthy, and he has been just that. But while Fleury was out for 25 games with a concussion, Malcolm Subban,
Oscar Dansk
and
Maxime Lagace
filled in exceptionally well. The defense has been good;
Shea Theodore
had four points on Tuesday and Nate Schmidt has chipped in offensively. James Neal, Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson, David Perron and Reilly Smith lead an impressive group of forwards. The Golden Knights have won three straight games, the fifth time this season they have won at least that many. At this point in the season, the honeymoon is long over and they've proven they are for real.

Dallas Stars

Firstly, let's congratulate coach Ken Hitchcock, who earned his 800th NHL victory on Thursday, becoming only the third coach to do that. He joins Chicago Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville (868) and Hall of Famer Scotty Bowman (1,244). There is no question Hitchcock has made Dallas a better team, but even so, they are still an inconsistent team. The Stars rank are in the middle of the pack in the League in goals for, goals against, power-play percentage and penalty-killing percentage.
Dallas looked great at Madison Square Garden last week in a win against the Rangers and followed that up with a nice win against the Islanders. However, they followed those to strong efforts with a poor game against the Devils and lost three straight before a 4-0 shutout against the Blackhawks on Thursday. Alexander Radulov has been a good addition for them; he's tied with Tyler Seguin for second on the team in scoring (29 points), one behind captain Jamie Benn. Ben Bishop shut out the Blackhawks but hasn't played nearly as well as he can, which is why Dallas is 19-14-3 and clinging to a wild-card spot after being thought of by many as a preseason Stanley Cup contender.
HONORABLE MENTION
Congratulations to the New York Islanders getting their new rink at Belmont Park approved. That franchise definitely needed this, and coming home to Long Island, where they belong, is great news for the team, Long Island and the League. I know it will take a couple of years to build, but not having to worry about the uncertainty of where they will be playing in the future is a great thing for the Islanders and their fans.