The Pittsburgh Penguins are certainly playing excellent hockey, they lead the Eastern Conference with 20 points. But the best team in the NHL thus far has been the Colorado Avalanche, whose 10-1-2 record is shocking everyone and gives the Avs a five point advantage over everyone else in the West. Buffalo is 7-1-1 after nine games and is a huge surprise early on as are the Kings, who at 8-4-1 are tied with San Jose atop the Pacific. Chicago’s lead in the Central is far from surprising, but Detroit’s 4-4-2 record is shocking at this point. The Red Wings need to turn this around and fast.

Week In Preview
Thursday
-Ottawa is making Ontario proud with 14 points, and they’ll be at Tampa on TSN at 7:30 eastern followed by struggling Detroit at Edmonton, led by Dustin Penner. Ovechkin and Washington will be at Atlanta, and the banged up Canucks could be without Roberto Luongo again as they face points leader Anze Kopitar and Los Angeles.
Friday
-After a really fast start, the Blue Jackets have really cooled down, and it won’t get any easier as they host Pittsburgh. Montreal will be at Chicago in an Original Six battle, Vancouver will be at Anaheim who is off to a 3-6-1 start and the top two teams right now in the West will do battle as Colorado visits San Jose and captain Patrick Marleau, who is 2nd in the NHL with 10 goals.
Saturday
-CBC has one day game and one night game with Ottawa hosting Atlanta at 2 and 7-3-1 Calgary hosting Detroit at 10. Edmonton-Boston, Carolina-Philadelphia and New Jersey-Tampa Bay are other day games on the schedule. Perhaps Toronto will masquerade as a good team on Halloween night as they visit Montrel. Ditto for the Wild against the Penguins and the Panthers at the Blues.
Sunday
-Boston and New York will play at 1 eastern at MSG, Columbus continues its eastern contender road trip in Washington and Colorado continues its western contenders trip in Vancouver.
Monday
-Three games in the league Monday include the Oilers and Islanders throwing it back, Tampa Bay at Philly (I’m sure people will be concentrating more on the game across Broad Street) and LA and Phoenix clash in a battle of surprise Pacific contenders.
Tuesday
-Boston and Detroit were top seeds last season, but haven’t played well during the first month. The two teams match up at 7 p.m. on Versus. The Rangers head west to play the Canucks at 10 eastern on TSN. Pittsburgh is at Anaheim at 10 as well.
Wednesday
-Dallas is quietly off to a 6-4-2 start, and will host the Flames at 8:30 eastern on TSN. Other interesting games on the schedule include Washington at New Jersey, San Jose at Columbus and Phoenix at Colorado.

Players of the Week
Goals- Anze Kopitar, LA & Sidney Crosby, PIT with 5. Five players tied with four.
Assists- Tomas Kaberle, TOR & Ales Hemsky EDM & Drew Doughty LA tied with six.
Points- Kopitar, LA with 8. Five players tied with seven.
Plus/Minus- Wojtek Wolski, COL +6. Six players tied with +5.
Penalty Minutes- Eric Staal, CAR 26. BJ Crombeen, STL 24. Cam Janssen, STL 19.
Power Play Goals- Niklas Hagman, TOR 4. Marian Gaborik, NYR 3. Nine players tied with two.
Shots On Goal- Jeff Carter, PHI 23. Mike Richards, PHI 19.
Wins- Craig Anderson, COL 4. Jon Quick, LA & Jaroslav Halak, MTL 3.
GAA (goalies with at least 2 wins)- Christobal Huet, CHI 0.50. Ryan Miller, BUF 1.45. Chris Mason, STL 1.50.
Save % (goalies with at least 2 wins)- Huet, .979. Anderson, .951. Miller, .948.
Shutouts- Anderson, Huet and Roberto Luongo, VAN 1.