The Colorado Avalanche started Week 13 with a pair of victories that gave them their second 10-game profitable streak of the 2025-26 season. They ended it with simply their third regulation lack of the marketing campaign.
The setback marked the official midway level of the season for the Avalanche, who threatened to interrupt the NHL file for many factors by 41 video games. Colorado has amassed 69 factors with a 31-3-7 file — 4 fewer than the quantity earned by the 1929-30 Boston Bruins, who completed that 44-game marketing campaign at 38-5-1 for 77 factors.
Whereas the Avalanche took one on the chin with their 2-1 setback towards the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Sunday, 4 groups have been undefeated final week whereas one other — the Chicago Blackhawks — went 3-0-1. The Pittsburgh Penguins gained all 4 of their video games, together with a home-and-home sequence with the Detroit Crimson Wings, the Tampa Bay Lightning and Seattle Kraken every posted three victories and the Boston Bruins triumphed twice.
In the meantime, the Buffalo Sabres kicked off Week 13 with their franchise record-tying tenth consecutive win earlier than falling flat on Saturday with a 5-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets that additionally ended their seven-game street profitable streak.
Six groups could not add to the win column final week, with two of these golf equipment failing to earn a degree. The NHL-worst Winnipeg Jets misplaced all three of their contests, and the Edmonton Oilers have been defeated twice, marking the primary time they suffered back-to-back losses since going 0-2-1 from Nov. 17-20.
Every week in the course of the season I will rank the league’s prime 10 groups primarily based on each the earlier week’s performances and general physique of labor in 2025-26. I will additionally give transient synopsis for every membership that explains why they’re ranked the place they’re.
Let’s dive into the ability rankings coming into Week 14 of the 2025-26 NHL season and spotlight a couple of of the groups’ notable accomplishments.
NHL Week 14 energy rankings
1. Colorado Avalanche (2-1-0 in Week 13; 31-3-7 general)
It is gotten to the purpose the place it is enormous information when the Avalanche fail to earn a degree, and it occurred on Sunday for less than the third time in the course of the first half of the season. Regardless of the regulation loss at Florida, Colorado owns an 11-point lead within the race for the Presidents’ Trophy and has yet one more contest on the street earlier than starting a seven-game stretch at residence, the place it’s 17-0-2. Nathan MacKinnon regained the NHL scoring lead final week after briefly being overtaken by Edmonton Oilers famous person Connor McDavid, posting back-to-back four-point performances to extend his whole to 74 factors. The 2024 Hart Trophy winner got here up with 4 straight multi-point efforts earlier than being saved off the rating sheet by the Panthers, giving MacKinnon 24 on the season. The 30-year-old middle scored 3 times in Week 13 and tops the league with 35 targets — 9 greater than Matt Boldy of the Minnesota Wild. It must be famous, nevertheless, that NHL goals-against common chief Mackenzie Blackwood (2.07) was positioned on injured reserve Friday with a lower-body damage. However the Avs have a really competent backup in Scott Wedgewood, who’s second within the league with a 2.17 GAA.
2. Minnesota Wild (1-1-2; 25-11-8)
The Wild squeaked previous the Stars on this week’s rankings by incomes at the very least one level in three of their 4 contests as they continued their seven-game street journey. They usually did so with out a lot manufacturing from their prime two scorers, as Kirill Kaprizov (49 factors) solely recorded a purpose and an help whereas Boldy (48) tallied as soon as. Monday’s 4-2 street loss to the Los Angeles Kings marked simply the second time in 15 video games Minnesota failed to return away with a degree. Defenseman Quinn Hughes has not upset since being acquired from the Vancouver Canucks on Dec. 12, as he has averaged a degree per sport over his 12 contests with Minnesota. The 2024 Norris Trophy winner had his most efficient outing with the membership final Friday, matching his profession excessive with 4 assists in a 5-2 victory towards the Anaheim Geese.
3. Dallas Stars (0-2-1; 25-9-8)
Dallas is within the midst of its worst funk of the season, because it has misplaced 5 consecutive contests (0-2-3), together with all three in Week 13, so it solely is smart that it falls a spot within the rankings. Jason Robertson landed on the rating sheet in each sport final week, amassing a purpose and three assists. The 26-year-old left wing has notched at the very least one level in six of his final seven outings. Mikko Rantanen has carried out so in eight of his previous 9 contests and is tied for fifth within the NHL with 57 factors. The 29-year-old Finnish proper wing has posted six multi-point performances throughout that stretch, together with one in final Thursday’s 4-3 loss to the Blackhawks, and has 17 general this marketing campaign.
4. Tampa Bay Lightning (3-0-0; 25-13-3)
The Lightning had their second straight good week and are using a seven-game profitable streak after having swept their three-game California journey with victories over Anaheim (in additional time), Los Angeles and the San Jose Sharks. Tampa Bay allowed three targets in every of these contests however scored a complete of 16 and have tallied at the very least 4 occasions in each sport in the course of the general profitable streak. Nikita Kucherov has recorded at the very least one level in every of these seven contests, notched two or extra in six straight and scored a purpose in 5 in a row. The three-time Artwork Ross Trophy winner, who has posted multi-point performances in 16 of his final 21 outings, netted a tally and arrange 4 others in final Saturday’s 7-3 triumph at San Jose for his franchise-record eighth profession five-point effort. Kucherov is fourth within the NHL with 59 factors, whereas Darren Raddysh ranks seventh amongst defensemen with 34 — three shy of the profession excessive he set final season. The 29-year-old has amassed a number of factors in three consecutive video games and joined Doug Crossman (1992) and Dan Boyle (2006) as the one blue-liners in franchise historical past to file a hat trick when he completed the feat for the primary time in his profession Saturday towards the Sharks.
5. Detroit Crimson Wings (2-1-1; 25-15-4)
They have not been good since going 3-0-0 in Week 2, however the Crimson Wings have been very constant of late, profitable extra video games than they’ve misplaced every of the final 5 weeks. Lucas Raymond (one purpose, three assists) has landed on the rating sheet in 4 of his final 5 contests and captain Dylan Larkin (two targets, one help) did so in three of Detroit’s 4 video games final week. Veteran James van Riemsdyk has been contributing offensively of late, netting a tally in 4 of his final seven outings. The 36-year-old left wing is coming off his second multi-point efficiency of the season as he scored a purpose and arrange two others in Monday’s 5-3 street overcome the Ottawa Senators.
6. Montreal Canadiens (3-1-0; 23-13-6)
The Canadiens gained three of their 4 video games final week, giving them factors in eight of their final 9 outings (6-1-2). Nick Suzuki landed on the rating sheet in three of the 4 contests, recording three targets and an help, whereas Lane Hutson posted three multi-point performances. The 2025 Calder Trophy winner, who has notched two or extra factors in eight of his previous 13 video games, is tied for the NHL lead amongst defensemen with 35 assists and ranks third with 42 factors. Russian proper wing Ivan Demidov has provide you with 4 multi-point efforts whereas racking up 10 factors over his final seven outings and tops all rookies in assists (26) and factors (36). In the meantime, Slovakian left wing Juraj Slafkovsky has registered a number of factors in 5 of his previous seven contests, amassing 5 targets and 6 assists throughout that stretch.
7. Carolina Hurricanes (1-3-0; 25-14-3)
The Hurricanes started Week 13 with three straight losses, giving them six in eight video games (2-5-1), earlier than salvaging the week with a 3-1 street overcome the New Jersey Devils final Sunday. Sebastian Aho had a monstrous offensive efficiency in Carolina’s 7-5 loss to Montreal final Thursday, scoring two targets and establishing three others for the second five-point outing of his profession. The 28-year-old Finnish middle adopted together with his third multi-point effort in 4 contests as he recorded a tally and an help in a 5-3 setback towards Colorado two days later. Nikolaj Ehlers enters Week 14 with a three-game goal-scoring streak after going eight consecutive contests with out a tally.
8. Pittsburgh Penguins (4-0-0; 20-12-9)
At 39 years previous, Evgeni Malkin definitely is within the twilight of his excellent NHL profession. However the two-time Artwork Ross Trophy winner was having a strong bounce-back season after ending 2024-25 with solely 50 factors in 68 video games as he racked up 29 in his first 26 contests. Malkin adopted a two-point efficiency towards the Philadelphia Flyers on Dec. 1 with a three-point outing versus Tampa Bay three days later however hasn’t performed since because of an upper-body damage. His absence clearly affected the Penguins, who misplaced their first eight video games (0-4-4) with out him. They’ve managed to proper the ship, nevertheless, profitable six of their subsequent seven contests — together with every of the final 5. Two-time Hart and Artwork Ross Trophy recipient Sidney Crosby, who is only one yr youthful than Malkin, hasn’t slowed down, as he’s within the midst of a seven-game level streak throughout which he has collected 5 targets and 7 assists whereas additionally posting three multi-point performances. In the meantime, Bryan Rust netted 4 tallies and arrange 4 others throughout a six-game level run earlier than arising empty in Sunday’s 5-4 additional time street overcome the Columbus Blue Jackets.
9. Buffalo Sabres (1-1-0; 21-15-4)
The Sabres weren’t capable of get well in Columbus on Saturday after the Blue Jackets snapped a 1-1 tie with a short-handed purpose with simply over six minutes remaining within the first interval. They fell one in need of setting a franchise file with an eleventh consecutive victory. The loss was the primary since Dec. 8 for Buffalo, which is giving its followers hope that it’s going to finish the NHL’s longest lively playoff drought at 14 seasons. Josh Doan scored the crew’s lone purpose within the loss to Columbus and has tallied in back-to-back contests following an eight-game drought. Tage Thompson has notched at the very least one level in 9 of his final 12 outings and leads the Sabres with 37 after recording two targets and an help in final Wednesday’s 4-1 triumph at Dallas.
10. Washington Capitals (2-1-1; 22-15-6)
I used to be contemplating three groups for this spot however selected the Capitals over the Flyers and New York Islanders since they performed yet one more sport in Week 13 and earned a degree in it. Washington capped its week with a 7-4 victory over Anaheim on Monday, marking the fourth time this season it has produced at the very least seven targets. Justin Sourdif led the cost towards the Geese as he registered his first profession hat trick and added a pair of assists. The 23-year-old proper wing, who was acquired from Florida final June, collected half of his 18 factors on the season final week with three multi-point performances during which he amassed 5 targets and 4 assists. Connor McMichael picked up 4 assists versus Anaheim to complete the week with six, whereas Alex Ovechkin scored twice to extend his profession whole to an all time-best 914 targets. Tom Wilson, who leads the Capitals with 22 targets and 42 factors, did not play Monday because of a lower-body damage however loved a streak of three straight multi-point efforts throughout which he recorded 5 tallies and three assists earlier than being saved off the rating sheet in a 3-2 shootout loss to Chicago on Saturday.
