Heatley, Sharks Claim Top Spot

It's a familiar spot for the San Jose Sharks at the top of our power rankings. The Sharks picked up seven of a possible eight points this past week, including a big win against Dany Heatley's former team, the Ottawa Senators. After the Sharks, the teams at the top remain the same, while one team at the bottom continues its forgettable season.

1. Sharks Dany Heatley faced his former team for the first time this past week and came out on the winning end, recording two assists and eight shots on goal in a 5-2 decision. Joe Thornton, meanwhile, continues his quest to join an elite club with Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux.
2. Blackhawks Salary cap? What salary cap? Chicago locked up three of its building blocks when it signed Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith to long-term contract extensions.
3. Capitals . Alex Ovechkin was issued a two-game suspension for his knee-on-knee hit on Tim Gleason, but the Capitals didn't miss a beat on Thursday with a 6-2 dismantling of the Florida Panthers.
4. Penguins Sidney Crosby is starting to get on a roll for the Penguins, recording 11 points in the past three games (all Penguins wins). He's currently on pace for a career high of 54 goals and is third in the NHL's scoring race.
5. Devils Jacques Lemaire has been a huge addition behind the bench for the New Jersey Devils, improving their team defense significantly this season, even as they play without two of their top rearguards in Paul Martin and Johnny Oduya.
6. Flames Jarome Iginla is having another fantastic season in Calgary, and is on a pace that could see him score over 50 goals. The 30-year-old winger already has two 50-goal campaigns in his 12-year career.
7. Kings Anze Kopitar hasn't scored a goal in 11 games for the Kings (and he has just six assists over that stretch). Fortunately, they haven't stopped winning, picking up victories in five of their past six.

8. Sabres Perhaps, in hindsight, we had the Sabres way too low last week. So we'll make up for it this week by giving them a nice boost back up into the top 10, especially after their four-game winning streak.
9. Bruins Quite a week for the Bruins, as they locked up Marc Savard to an extremely reasonable contract extension, and won six of their past seven games. They're starting to climb back up the Eastern Conference rankings after a sluggish start.
10. Avalanche After starting 10-1-2, the Avalanche have started to fall back to the pack with a 5-8-4 record in their last 17 games. Goaltender Craig Anderson had an unfortunate run-in with Florida's Keith Ballard.
11. Predators Nashville has followed its seven-game winning streak by losing three of its past four, including a 5-4 overtime loss against Minnesota on Wednesday. Even with their recent slump, the Predators have still won 13 of their past 19 games.
12. Canucks Speaking of teams reversing their starts, while the Avalanche have cooled off, the Canucks have been going in the opposite direction, winning 13 of their past 20 games. Random fact: The Canucks are one of just two teams that has yet to lose a game in overtime this season (Pittsburgh being the other).
13. Thrashers Maxim Afinogenov is looking like one of the best steals of the offseason with 11 goals and 14 assists in 25 games. He had six goals and 14 assists in 48 games a season ago, and just 10 goals in 56 games the year before.
14. senators Milan Michalek is playing well for Ottawa with eight goals in his past 10 games, including a pair of two-goal efforts against Boston and San Jose. He's currently leading the team with 15 goals, which is only three less than what Dany Heatley has for San Jose. Worth mentioning, of course, because they were traded for one another this past summer.
15. Stars After their game against Edmonton on Saturday, the Stars leave on a huge five-game road trip that takes them through Anaheim, San Jose and Los Angeles, before ending in Carolina and Atlanta. That's a lot of travel and some tough games.
16. Red Wings Jimmy Howard has started three straight games for the Wings and played quite well. As a team, however, Detroit has dropped six of its past nine games and is currently in 11th place in the Western Conference.
17. CoyotesThe Coyotes hit a bit of a slump after their hot start, but are still in a playoff position a week into December. Anybody see that coming before the season?
18. Blue Jackets Steve Mason had another short night on Thursday, getting pulled, again, during Columbus' 6-3 loss to Toronto. The only goalie that currently owns a worse save percentage and goals against average is Toronto's Vesa Toskala.
19. Islanders After having a hat trick taken away from him earlier this season, Matt Moulson recorded his first official one on Thursday in a 4-1 against Atlanta. The former ninth-round pick is leading the Islanders with 14 goals and tied for the team lead with 22 points.
20. Flyers What's happened to the Flyers? This team has too much talent to be struggling this much. Philadelphia has lost six of its past seven, and if the playoffs started today, would be on the outside looking in.

21. Rangers The Rangers continue their downward fall, having won just six of their past 19 games. Not a great week for the Blue Shirts as they were swept in a home-and-home series with Pittsburgh, and gave up a hat trick in each game: one to Sidney Crosby, and one to Mike Rupp.
22. Canadiens More disappointment in Montreal, as the Habs have lost four in a row and still have just three wins in regulation.

23. Blues The Blues are getting solid goaltender from Ty Conklin and Chris Mason, and as a duo they have the sixth-best save percentage in the NHL through the first two months. Unfortunately, offense has been a huge problem for St. Louis, averaging just 2.44 goals-per-game, 26th in the league.
24. Lightning Steven Stamkos continues his impressive sophomore campaign with 17 goals in 26 games. He's currently on pace for 54 goals.

25. Ducks Bad news for the Ducks as veteran forward Teemu Selanne is reportedly going to miss some time due to a broken hand.
26. Oilers The Oilers' injury woes continue as Ales Hemsky will miss the remainder of the season with a torn labrum. He's Edmonton's second-leading scorer with 22 points in 22 games.

27. Wild Martin Havlat returned to the lineup in a 5-4 win against Nashville this past week. He's been a huge disappointment in the early going, scoring just two goals in his first 20 games with Minnesota.
28. Panthers Keith Ballard destroyed his own goaltender, Tomas Vokoun, on Monday, then took out an opposing netminder, Colorado's Craig Anderson, on Wednesday. As a team, Florida has lost six of its past seven.

29. Maple Leafs Jonas Gustavsson has been one of the few bright spots in Toronto this season and now he's going to miss some more time after finding out that he'll need another heart procedure done. Scary.
30. Hurricanes An awful season continues with what is currently a five-game losing streak. Carolina has lost 19 of its past 22 games.