Sens Week Ahead: Nov 29 to Dec 5

The Sens start this home stand the same way they ended the last - with a visit by the Philadelphia Flyers.

Since that last visit, the Flyers have surged somewhat with three wins in four games. Two of those wins came against teams noticeably higher in the standings.

The scoring has been up a bit. All three of their recent wins came with three goals each. Despite that, they're still dead last in the league for goals per game with an absolutely dismal 1.83 GF/G. The recent scoring is partially tied to another improvement that hasn't moved the needle much on the overall stats yet, the power play - in their last four games they are running at over 30% efficiency and it accounts for 40% of their goals in those games, but they still rank 25th in the league.

Steve Mason has been posting spectacular numbers in his recent games, with a shutout, two games above .950 and one above .940. The one exception in his last five starts is, notably, his four goal stinker a week ago in Ottawa.

No matter how you feel about Patrick Kane as a person, there is no denying he has been red hot on the ice for the overwhelming majority of this season. He's got a month and a half long, 19 game point streak going, and has only been held off the score sheet twice this season. He's setting a pace that would be, by far, the best production of his career. It's not all luck either - his personal shooting percentage is probably going to come down a bit as the season progresses, but he's shooting more and putting up more assists this season than he has in the past.

The rest of the Blackhawks aren't exactly push-overs either. The undrafted KHL import Artemi Panarin has just under a point per game career pace in the NHL, and is currently leading the rookie scoring race. Brent Seabrook might be having a mid-career breakout season, and is on pace to top his previous career high by about 20 points.

Two players that aren't doing so well this season, relatively speaking? Jonathan Toews and Marian Hossa. Both players are on career-low point paces, though even that should probably be considered dangerous - they still aren't players you want to take lightly.

Stop. Close your eyes. Picture where you think the Islanders are in the standings this year. Did you picture a wild card spot? I sure didn't, but that's where they are right now (barely).

This is a team that was one of the top four possession teams last season, but they're sub-50% at 5v5 so far this season. Scoring is down for the Isles this season too, though they are still 11th overall in goals per game. Truth be told though, their results aren't that far off the pace they set last season - only two to three points.