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<\/a><\/p>\nNew Jersey<\/strong> \u2014 Seven straight wins for the Devils! This week New Jersey came out on top against Toronto, Minnesota and San Jose, by a combined score of 12-4. Impressive stuff going on in NJ, it\u2019s all systems go for them right now. Things don\u2019t get any easier with a home-and-home starting today against Colorado.<\/p>\n Pittsburgh<\/strong> \u2014 Anyone else noticed the Pens lead the NHL with an all situations 13.97% shooting<\/a> percentage? No matter! The vibes are sky high, let\u2019s see how long this hot roll will continue. Maybe it goes for a while, and Pittsburgh fans deserve feeling good after a few years of just kinda hanging around. It\u2019s a credit to them so far that they\u2019ve been able to convert so many chances to goals and get off to a much stronger start than anyone could have expected.<\/p>\n Carolina<\/strong> \u2014 The Hurricanes were on the road and took on three elite Western Conference teams this week in Vegas (4-1 loss), Colorado (5-4 shootout win) and Dallas (3-2 loss). Tough road to go down there. As an aside and only place to ramble on this tangent; the game against the Avalanche featured them wearing Quebec Nordiques jerseys <\/a>and Carolina wearing the Hartford Whalers getup. Many loved it, and obviously they are great jerseys and primo nostalgia but I did not like it. That\u2019s just rubbing it in. You\u2019re not the Hartford Whalers, you killed the Whalers by moving them. Imagine if the Penguins moved to Kansas City and played a game with the old logo? Awful. Hardly the biggest deal and maybe the point was a surface level \u2018oh that\u2019s nice\u2019 reaction, just not a fan of teams reverting back to their franchise\u2019s past that they were the ones who destroyed.<\/p>\n Washington<\/strong> \u2014 The Caps sandwiched two wins around losses to Vancouver and Ottawa to start and end the week. Last night\u2019s game was fun, Alex Ovechkin celebrated game 1,500 with Washington in a 7-1 loss. Linus Ullmark lost his mind and skated all the way down the ice to get involved in a scrum<\/a>. We could use more goalie fights these days.<\/p>\n NY Islanders <\/strong>\u2014 Over the past few years the Islanders have been scrappy, resilient, stubborn but typically boring or a chore. Now with Matthew Schaefer (and to a lesser extent Emil Heineman and a healthy Mat Barzal) are the Islanders\u2026frisky and fun? It\u2019s quite the turnaround from being a team to slog through games to now being an exciting one. This week will be a huge one to find out just where NYI stands, they have a road trip that takes them through Boston, Washington and Carolina.<\/p>\n Philadelphia<\/strong> \u2014 The Flyers might be getting their legs under them, after losing three of the first four games to start the season, they\u2019ve now won three out of four including a shootout win over the Islanders yesterday. The Trevor Zegras experiment is going well out the gates, Zegras has eight points in the first eight games with Philadelphia. Goalie Dan Vladar has been playing some really good hockey lately too, strangely enough with his history.<\/p>\n Columbus<\/strong> \u2014 Last night was a nice response game in Pittsburgh for the Blue Jackets, who absorbed a tough 5-1 loss the night before to Washington. Columbus is another team on the rise that is a fun watch. Two or three times their defensemen had to pull pucks off the goal line to prevent goals, everyone is pitching in!<\/p>\n