Weekly NHL Forecaster January 22nd – January 28th

Below is a breakdown of the seventh week of NHL games in the 2017-2018 season (can you believe we are about 25% into the season?!?) . The graph breaks down the schedule and the strength of the opponent in goals for, goals against, their power play and penalty kill and ranks it against the rest of the league on a scale from 1-31 (with 31 being the worst) So the higher the average ranks you see for an opponent the better schedule that team has. It factors in how well a team does at home vs. on the road as well.

*Stats are as of 1/3/2018

Favorable:

Offense:

The Sabres get the Flames and Oilers (the two worst teams at home) and then the Canucks (below average at home). Call this a favorable road trip for Buffalo.

Washington gets one game – the Panthers on the road (who are the 2^nd worst offensive team at home).

Goalies:

Cam Talbot has an easier week with the Sabres and Flames. The Sabres are the 4^th worst team on the road offensively and the Flames are 12^th worst offensively on the road.

The Jets have two games and it’s against the Sharks and Ducks, both at home, both above average offenses, that is not a fun trip.

Power Play:

Arizona faces off against the Islanders and Blue Jackets, both are bottom third of the league in PK, the Islanders have the worst PK.

The Sabres road trip features 3 teams in the bottom 6 in PK this year.

As if the Vegas Golden Knights needed something else in their favor – they get two of the worst 12 PK units this week in Columbus and NYI.

Penalty Kill:

Calgary goes up against Buffalo (2^nd worst PP unit) followed by LA and Edmonton (both bottom ten PP units).

The Oilers get the Sabres and Flames – both bottom 12 on the Power Play.

Vancouver gets two of the bottom 10 PP units in LAK and Buffalo

Unfavorable:

Offense:

The Stars have a rough goalie matchup with the Panthers and Maple Leafs (Reimer is sneaky, don’t underestimate him).

The Red Wings have Cory Schneider, Brian Elliott and Corey Crawford, the latter two teams are top 12 on defense.

Goalies:

Devan Dubnyk gets the Senators and Penguins who are both above average (Senators are on the road and Pittsburgh is at home).

Brian Elliott’s numbers are going down a bit and they face the Red Wings and Tampa Bay Lightning this week, both top half of the league in goals scored in their respective home/away situation.

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Power Play:

The Canadiens have an rough matchup against Colorado (5^th best PK unit) before considerably easier Hurricanes (24^th best PK unit)

The New Jersey Devils need to stay at 5 vs. 5 their schedule against Detroit, Boston and Nashville features 3 teams who are above average on both PK AND the power play.

Penalty Kill:

The Hurricanes have a gauntlet to start with the Penguins (best PP unit) and it cools down a bit with Montreal (19^th best PP unit).

The Blackhawks have 3 matchups and while they get better progressively – Lightning (2^nd best unit), Maple Leafs (6^th best PP unit) and finally the Red Wings (13^th best unit) it doesn’t look like a fun week for their PK unit.

Nashville needs to stay out of the box – Tampa Bay and New Jersey are both top 5 in power play goals.