Top Shelf: Metro mediocrity
Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – It’s no secret the Western Conference has been dominating the NHL landscape in recent years. A month into the 2014-15 campaign, it’s plain to see not much has changed.
While the West is littered with teams that appear to be legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, the Eastern Conference, and in particular the Metropolitan Division, is marked by mediocrity.
Not only is the West boasting a 37-22-8 record when facing clubs from the East, the superior conference also owns a cumulative goal differential of plus-30 in all games this season. Teams from the East, meanwhile, have been outscored by 28 goals.
A closer look at the East’s two divisions reveals the Metro to be the anchor weighing down the conference at the moment. Five of the eight teams in the Atlantic Division own positive goal differentials and the group’s collective minus-10 differential is in large part due to one team — the Buffalo Sabres, who are an NHL-worst minus-27.
The Metro, on the other hand, is minus-18 as a whole with only Pittsburgh (plus-19) and Washington (plus-2) in the black. Only the Penguins have played consistently well and it’s no surprise Pittsburgh is leading the division with 15 points on a 7-2-1 record.
The rest of the division has been wildly inconsistent as every team not named the Penguins has suffered through a losing streak of three games or more. In fact, other than Pittsburgh and the New York Rangers — last year’s conference champions — each Metro club has lost at least four in a row at some point in the early going.
To be fair, some of the Metro’s struggles this season could be explained by injury woes. Columbus has been absolutely decimated by injuries in the first month, while the Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers also have dealt with key losses to their rosters.
The Devils and Islanders are currently sitting second and third behind the Pens for the division’s remaining two automatic bids, but they have both cooled off considerably since beginning the season on hot streaks. At this stage, only Pittsburgh, New Jersey and the Isles would be playoff teams if the season ended today, while the Atlantic would eat up the East’s remaining five postseason spots.
It’s a long season of course and things could get better for the residents of the NHL’s oddest-named division once some of the Metro’s clubs get a little healthier.
At the moment, however, the division is giving the lesser Eastern Conference an even worse reputation.
TARASENKO TEARING IT UP
One player who could sum up the West’s superiority at the moment is young St. Louis winger Vladimir Tarasenko, who just like his conference seems to be getting better every season.
The 22-year-old Russian broke out with 21 goals and 43 points for St. Louis last season and is on pace to obliterate those career-bests in 2014-15.
Tarasenko, the NHL’s reigning First Star of the Week, has seven goals and six assists in 11 games this season, with six of those markers coming over his past four outings. That puts him on pace to tally 52 goals and 97 points in just his third NHL campaign.
The burgeoning star delivered on a big stage Monday against the New York Rangers, notching the early front-runner for goal of the season at Madison Square Garden.
On the power play, Tarasenko received the puck in the neutral zone before skating his way through the heart of the Rangers defense. After weaving his way through the New York zone, Tarasenko finished with an amazing move as he skated left and reached back to his right with one hand on the stick to push the puck past Rangers goaltender Cam Talbot.
Tarasenko also scored the shootout winner later against the Rangers, leading St. Louis to its fifth straight victory.
“He’s as dynamic of a goal-scorer as anyone I’ve ever played with,” said Blues captain David Backes. “His shot and his burst of speed and his ability to find the net obviously is out of this world.”
Tarasenko’s early success is a good sign for the Blues, a team that has been strong in the regular season during the Ken Hitchcock era only to disappoint come playoff time. One thing to remember is St. Louis is still a young team and if players like Tarasenko and fellow forward Jaden Schwartz continue to develop the way they have been, the Blues could challenge the Los Angeles Kings and Chicago Blackhawks of the world for NHL supremacy.
St. Louis needs someone to be a difference maker if it plans on getting over the postseason hump. The way Tarasenko has steadily improved since his rookie season of 2012-13, it’s easy to believe the 2010 first-round pick may be the right man to help the Blues turn the corner.
“When he first came over, he was just happy to play here,” Hitchcock said of Tarasenko. “Now he wants to be a guy that contributes every night. He wants to be a significant player in the League. It’s a big difference.”
Categorized in: NHL