Media Buck's LGHL Week 1 Power Rankings - Top 3 For Week 1

Season 31 - Week 1 Power Rankings presented to you by BUCK​

**Disclaimer: These are all based off of personal opinion and take a lot of personal time to create and write up. Please note that this is for entertainment purposes only. If there is any salt directed to me due to this, it is because I’m doing a good job as a Media Team member. Without further ado, enjoy! **


#1 Philadelphia Flyers

It is no surprise that @DeeSa Ali's Flyers are #1 in this week’s Power Rankings. Not only did they sport a 6-2-1 record, which is first in the strong Metropolitan division, they did so in convincing fashion, having only one of their nine games be decided by 1 goal (1-0 OTL vs Carolina). In most of their wins this week, they were the much more dominant team. They managed to actually score lots of goals in what seemed to be a week filled with soccer scores.

This is what their week 1 schedule looked like:
-5-0 Win vs New Jersey
-3-1 Win vs Toronto
-1-0 OTL vs Carolina
-6-0 Win vs Washington
-6-3 Win vs Montreal
-2-0 Win vs Detroit
-5-1 Win vs Pittsburgh
-3-1 Loss vs NYI
-5-0 Loss vs Ottawa


A majority of their success this week came from their back end. @o S m i i t t y had an outstanding week, going 5-0-1 in net for the Flyers. He posted a strong 88.5 Sv%, while bragging a 0.95 GAA. Having faced 52 shots over 6 games, for an average of 8.67 shots against a game, you can tell that it is no joke that the Flyers defence is doing a good job containing opposing forwards, making Smitty’s job much easier.

Offensively, the Flyers had 2 players reach the 10 point plateau this week. Normally, 10 points in a week isn’t saying much, but in such a low scoring week, 10 is pretty freaking good. @MarcoGoes5H0LE (3-7-10 +5) managed to go 3-0-0 this week beating Pittsburgh, Detroit and Montreal. Not only did Marco play Centre for 2 games, he played his best game at LW against Montreal and put up 5 points. @l JLP l (2-8-10 +5) ended up going 2-1-0 this week beating Washington and Montreal, but losing to NYI. JLP is known as one of the better Centres in the league, but he seemed to struggle in the faceoff dot this week, only posting a 43.7% FO%. Hopefully he can return to his usual >50% average to help his team out in some areas this coming week.


Key Matchups for Philadelphia in Week 2:
-Monday 10pm vs Winnipeg
-Tuesday 11pm vs Chicago
-Wednesday 10pm vs Dallas



#2 Detroit Red Wings

Maybe surprising to some, but not to all, making #2 on this list is @cj142's Detroit Red Wings. They lead the struggling Atlantic division after Week 1, boasting a 7-2-0 record (Yes that is better than Philadelphia’s, but shush). Their 2 losses this week come from the hands of Philadelphia (2-0 L) and Columbus (3-1 L). Unlike Philadelphia, their games were much closer in scoring.


This was Detroit’s Week 1 schedule:
-5-2 Win vs Ottawa
-3-1 Loss vs Columbus
-3-1 Win vs Florida
-5-2 Win vs Buffalo
-3-1 Win vs Carolina
-2-0 Loss vs Philadelphia
-4-3 Win vs Tampa Bay
-2-1 Win vs Boston
-2-1 Win vs Pittsburgh


Similarly to Philadelphia, the majority of their success was due to the performance of their starting goalie @EgoKiller43. EgoKiller went 5-1-0 this week, posting an identical 88.5 Sv% as Smitty, but with a GAA of 1.49. The major difference here is that Ego faced 78 shots over 6 games, for an average of 13 shots against per game. That’s a lot of pucks for a goalie to see on average in a week. If Detroit wants to see more success in Week 2, they should look to lower that shot per game average for their starter.

Offensively, Detroit also had 2 players reach the 10 point or higher plateau in Week 1. You can’t ask for more from your free contract player and Owner then to lead the charge and show you how it’s done. @cj142 (4-7-11 +4) went 3-0-0 this week, beating teams like Buffalo, Carolina and Tampa Bay. 2 of those being much harder matchups than the other, but you still can’t ask for much more. As a centre as well, look for him to raise his FO% above 50% in the coming weeks, as below 50% is unusual for him. @XxNash61xX (7-3-10 +4) went 3-0-0 while rocking that small Dangler build on the RW. Nash managed to beat Florida, Buffalo and Tampa Bay this week. Not the strongest of competition but at least he did play a strong Tampa lineup. Look for him to continue to make a splash alongside CJ in the coming weeks.

Key Matchups for Detroit in Week 2:
-Sunday 9pm vs Arizona
-Tuesday 9pm vs NYR
-Tuesday 11pm vs Anaheim



#3 Vegas Golden Knights

I’m going to get a lot of criticism for this pick, but coming in at #3 this week is @K1eetus' Vegas Golden Knights. Although currently sitting 3rd in the Pacific with a 6-2-1 record (Behind Anaheim at 7-1-1 and Arizona at 7-3-0), Vegas had the least amount of goals scored against them in Week 1 with a whopping 12! All their losses were 1 goal games, and all of them against teams with better or equal records.

This was Vegas' Week 1 Schedule:
-2-1 Loss vs Arizona
-4-1 Win vs Nashville
-3-2 Loss vs Winnipeg
-2-0 Win vs Edmonton
-5-1 Win vs Vancouver
-3-0 Win vs Chicago
-3-0 Win vs Minnesota
-3-2 OTL vs Anaheim
-3-2 Win vs San Jose


The goaltending situation in Vegas in Week 1 was a little different. They had their roster goalies play 7 of their 9 games. The other two were obviously filled by ECU goalies. @Brumer 30 led the Knights with 2-1-1 record, facing 46 shots (11.5 shots against per game) and boasting an 84.8 Sv% and 1.63 GAA. Their other goalie @JDoolus ended up going 3-0 this week, with 2 shutouts. Doolus finished the week with a league best 94.6 Sv% and 0.66 GAA. He’s continuing where he’s always been, near the top of the leaderboards for top goalies.

Offensively, the Knights weren’t crazy powerful with one line like Philadelphia or Detroit. I guess that’s what happens when you’re busy not letting teams score. The scoring across this team was more spread out and even, but their top scorer was @boonsop (3-8-11 +3) who went 3-0-0 beating teams like Nashville, Vancouver and San Jose. Look for their offence to wake up and one line to take off eventually. It’s not normal for the entire team to be so even spread for scoring. It’s either a curse or a blessing. Only time will tell.

Key Matchups for Vegas in Week 2:
-Monday 10pm vs Detroit
-Tuesday 9pm vs Colorado
-Wednesday 10pm vs Boston

 

This Week 3, because limited resources to compare with. Next week 5, then hopefully 7-10 teams starting in Week 3 all the way to Week 9.