Avalanche take over top spot in Power Five

The Colorado Avalanche had a tough start, but now look poised to repeat as back-to-back President's Trophy winners.

Video Transcript

JUSTIN CUTHBERT: OK, let's do the Power Five. It's the best five teams in the NHL right now, as decided by me. Now, Boston and St. Louis are starting to move into position here, but number 5 right now is the New York Rangers.

That was a spirited comeback-- excuse me-- win over the Maple Leafs on Wednesday night. They play hard. They play fast. They play physical. They play Gerard Gallant hockey. MSG is bumping DJ Pauly D, is on the turntables there at MSG. Shesterkin, as I mentioned, clear Vezina Trophy favorite, I think at this point. And as I mentioned, still room to grow from an offensive standpoint. This is a real team that stands to improve. So I think we have to take the New York Rangers seriously here.

Number 4 is the Florida Panthers. They head out on the road, finally, and promptly lose in Calgary. And this is my worry for this team. They are now 5, 5, and 5 on the road. Still one of the league's best records, but haven't proven that they can win games away from FLA Live Center, or FLA Live Arena. Which has been-- or provided-- one of the strongest home ice advantages of the entire season, which, again, is crazy to say.

Number 3, and surpassing Florida in the Atlantic Division, is the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have won 6 of their last 7. Fully healthy now. They've scored 4.5 goals per outing, or averaged over that stretch of games, plus 150 right now-- we already did the betting tip-- plus 150 right now to win the Division.

You know, you obviously want to have games in hand, but if you bank these points-- especially when compared to a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs who are going to have to play such a hard schedule in February-- it's worth getting these games out of the way, getting those points in hand, and sitting on a lead. I think if Florida can't figure things out away from home ice and Toronto is impacted-- which I expect they would be, or it would be in February-- the obvious pick here might be the Tampa Bay Lightning, and it's pretty good plus money right now if you're looking to take that shot.

Number 2 is the Carolina Hurricanes. They may have taken the L from Brad Marchand, but that was a statement win over the Boston Bruins. The Hurricanes have the NHL's best per hour scoring rate since the pause at the holiday break, in addition to being the NHL's stingiest team all season long. That is a very good combination.

But number 1-- for the first time I believe-- is the Colorado Avalanche, who are exactly the team that we expected them to be, and maybe even better. 4.2 goals per game leads the NHL. The amount of firepower, both from an individual standpoint and collectively, is just insane with this team, and it's leading to the wins at a rate in which we should have expected. The Colorado Avalanche are still the best regular season team, I think, in the NHL. They haven't given up that mantle yet. But again, we'll see what happens when the playoffs do roll around.