NHL Power Rankings: Don't sleep on the Blues

43-10-4, 90 points: A strong week for the Capitals, who rolled off three straight wins over Los Angeles, N.Y. Islanders and New Jersey. They've now won eight of their last nine games.

31-19-8, 70 points: The Ducks have scored 24 goals during their five-game winning streak, four of which have been against divisional opponents. They're also 8-for-18 on the power play during that stretch (44.4 percent success rate).

38-19-5, 81 points: Before getting shellacked in the Stadium Series Game, the Blackhawks scored eight power play goals in their previous three games for a 2-0-1 record without Marian Hossa, who's nursing a lower-body injury.

35-17-9, 79 points: Brian Elliott has been sensational in February in the absence of Jake Allen, who was taken off injured reserve over the weekend, as the Blues have won five straight. This may be a rare case of a healthy goaltending controversy. Bad news: Alex Steen will miss at least a month with an upper-body injury. The injury bug strikes again.

34-20-4, 72 points: The Kings are 5-7-1 in their last 13 games, but there shouldn't be much concern. They ran out of gas last season after three deep postseason runs (which included two Stanley Cups) before that. This is the time where teams that can flick the switch on and off with ease hit cruise control. Also, eight of their next nine games are at home.

30-20-8, 68 points: The Penguins haven't lost back-to-back games in regulation since Dec. 18-19, continuing to rack up points (going 2-1-1 last week) even without Evgeni Malkin, who's missed the last nine games with a lower-body injury. The Mike Sullivan experiment is working.

34-18-7, 75 points: Jaromir Jagr tied and surpassed Brett Hull for No. 3 on the all-time goals list, scoring his 742nd career NHL goal in a win over Winnipeg on Saturday. His best quote after the game, at 44 years old: "There's no reason to quit. I love the game. If I can play in the NHL, why not keeping going?"

33-22-4, 70 points: After dropping four of their previous five games, the Lightning have rattled off three straight wins, despite getting outshot by a combined 47 shots during their winning streak. Steven Stamkos has scored a goal in three consecutive games for the first time all season.

37-17-6, 80 points: After winning four straight games — and seven of their last eight — to get back on track, the Stars relapsed by dropping three consecutive contests. In those last two, they allowed a combined 13 goals and 84 shots on goal.

34-19-6, 74 points: Henrik Lundqist has two shutouts in his last four starts. He had two shutouts in his previous 45 games. The Rangers will play seven of their next nine on the road, where they are 12-13-3 opposed to 22-6-3 at home. 

31-19-7, 69 points: The Islanders kicked off a seven-game road trip with a 1-0 shutout win over New Jersey. Thomas Greiss has a .945 save percentage in five February games, quietly breathing down Jaroslav Halak's neck. 

29-20-11, 69 points: The Red Wings are 0-2-2 in their last four games after going 4-0-1 in their previous five. 

32-21-6, 70 points: Brad Marchand has 15 goals in his last 16 games, and already set a new career-high with 30 goals. His previous career high in a single season was 28 goals in 2011-12. There are still 28 games left in the year. 

27-23-10, 64 points: Erik Staal has one points in his last nine games, which could soften the package Carolina receives in return if they elect to trade him before the trade deadline on Feb. 29.

27-21-11, 65 points: The Predators have picked up at least a point in six of their last seven games, which is crucial considering the teams above them in the Central Division keep doing the same. They haven't won back-to-back games in nearly a month, though, and they must start picking up the second point in overtime or shootouts, where they are 1-11 this season.

27-22-10, 64 points: The Wild have yet to lose under interim coach John Torchetti (4-0-0) and have scored at least five goals in each of those four games. They're also allowed only two goals per game during that span, improving their numbers on both sides.

31-27-4, 66 points: Is it safe to say that Colorado is this year's version of the 2015 Calgary Flames? They are by far the worst possession team in the NHL, controlling just 43.5 percent of even-strength shot attempts, yet keep accumulating points and remain in a playoff spot.

29-24-7, 65 points: The Devils slipped three points out of the second wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference after going 0-3-0 last week. Will that affect the way they approach the trade deadline?

26-21-11, 63 points: Shayne Gostisbehere extended his point streak to 15 games after scoring an overtime goal in Saturday's win. The NHL record for longest point streak by a rookie prior to this season was 10.

27-25-6, 60 points: The Coyotes bounced back from a rough start to February by knocking off Montreal and Dallas in back-to-back games. Nine of their next 11 games, including the next five, are on the road, where they are 11-13-2 this season compared to 16-12-4 at home.

24-29-7, 55 points: Ryan O'Reilly will miss the next 3-4 weeks with a lower-body injury, which will give the Sabres a chance to see what Jack Eichel can do playing top-line minutes on a consistent basis.

23-24-12, 58 points: In a rather surprising move, the Canucks acquired Markus Granland from Calgary on Monday in exchange for Hunter Shinkaruk, one of the teams' top prospects. That's the second time in the last year both teams made a trade with one another, inside the division.

26-29-3, 55 points: Kari Ramo will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL, which likely means Jonas Hiller won't be traded before the Feb. 29 deadline. Tough blow for the Flames, who won't have the option of getting some assets in return for either goaltender. 

23-29-7, 53 points: The Blue Jackets failed to cash in on six power-play opportunities against Buffalo on Friday, and got shut out 4-0 because of it.

25-29-4, 54 points: Andrew Ladd has three goals in his last two games, reminding playoff contenders looking to add that he could make an immediate impact.

22-32-6, 50 points: The Oilers will be an interesting team to watch at the trade deadline. They have the assets (Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins) to retrieve a top defenseman, but they may wait until the offseason to maximize their return(s).

20-27-10, 50 points: The Maple Leafs added two more draft picks (a second-rounder in 2017 and 2018) by shipping Roman Polak and Nick Spaling to San Jose. They now have 27 draft picks total across the next three drafts. Toronto is rightfully taking one step backward to move two steps forward.