In the past few weeks, two teams have risen in The Sun’s Power Rankings at an astronomical pace, emerging as bona fide Stanley Cup contenders in the process. In the Eastern Conference, the Ottawa Senators — mired in 22nd place as recently as December 28 — now find themselves at no. 12 with a bullet. Although the recent scoring exploits of Dany Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson surely help, the real reason behind the Senators’ resurgence has been the stellar play of young goaltender Ray Emery.

During the off-season, it appeared that the Senators’ general manager, John Muckler, made a huge mistake when he signed Martin Gerber. But signing Gerber pushed Emery to work very hard during the off-season, and he’s a much better goalie as a result. While it’s true that Gerber’s a very expensive backup, the combined cost of the two netminders ($4.6 million) is actually fairly reasonable.

Goaltending has also been the key for the Western Conference’s red-hot riser. Backstopped by Roberto Luongo, the Vancouver Canucks have risen from 23rd to 11th in our rankings. Luongo — recently voted by the NHL’s fans to start the All-Star Game on January 24 — has emerged as a top candidate for the Hart Trophy given annually to the league’s most valuable player. Vancouver is riding a seven-game winning streak, and it will look to extend it to eight when it hosts the Minnesota Wild tonight.

So here’s how the teams line up this week. Statistically, teams are measured from left to right by W–L–OTL, standings points, goals scored, goals allowed, power play success, and penalty-killing success. Please note that the data are up to, and include games played on Tuesday night and that our statistics for special teams effectiveness also take shorthanded goals into account. Each team’s ranking from last week appears in parentheses.

1 BUFFALO SABRES (1): Three Sabres were deservedly voted to start in the All-Star Game — Daniel Briere, Ryan Miller, and Brian Campbell — a sign that Sabre-mania has landed in Buffalo, the NHL’s smallest American TV market.
30–9–3 63 158 121 14.1% 83.8%

2 ANAHEIM DUCKS (2): The injury–ravaged Ducks put up a good fight against the hard-charging Predators in Nashville on Tuesday night, but came up just short in a 5–4 overtime loss.
29–9–7 65 153 108 22.2% 86.5%

3 NASHVILLE PREDATORS (4): Finally healthy, the Predators are a clear-cut Cup contender. In Tuesday night’s win, Steve Sullivan and Kimmo Timonen teamed up for a brilliant goal in overtime.
29–11–3 61 145 112 17.2% 88.3%

4 SAN JOSE SHARKS (6): Silicon Valley’s tech-savvy hockey fans voted both Joe Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo into the All–Star Game, but only “Jumbo Joe” deserves the honor. With only 13 goals and a minus-10 rating, Cheechoo has slipped badly this year.
28–14–0 56 130 100 24.7% 86.3%

5 DETROIT RED WINGS (3): The rivalry may have lost some of its luster through the years, but last Wednesday night’s Wings-Avalanche game was still very compelling. Henrik Zetterberg scored twice in regulation and again in the shootout to lead Detroit to victory.
26–12–5 57 128 102 13.8% 84.6%

6 NEW JERSEY DEVILS (9): After an atrocious start captain Patrik Elias has returned to All-Star form. In his last 10 games, the Devils’ captain has tallied 13 points and a very impressive plus-9 rating.
25–13–4 54 109 96 15.0% 88.1%

7 ATLANTA THRASHERS (7): Injuries caused Kari Lehtonen’s NHL career to get off to a rocky start, but the fabulous Finnish netminder has settled nicely into the starting role in Atlanta (.911 SV%, 2.83 GAA) to lead the Thrashers to the top of the Southeast Division.
24–13–8 56 135 136 14.2% 81.8%

8 MONTREAL CANADIENS (5): Hard–hitting blueliner Sheldon Souray has improved by leaps and bounds in the defensive zone, and his point shot on the Habs’ power play is one of the NHL’s most-feared weapons. He is a deserving All–Star Game starter.
24–14–5 53 127 116 22.1% 92.6%

9 DALLAS STARS (8): Strong play from defensemen Philippe Boucher and Sergei Zubov — and of course, goaltender Marty Turco — has helped the plucky Stars stay close on the Sharks’ heels.
26–17–1 53 115 106 16.1% 85.0%

10 CALGARY FLAMES (11): One of the streakiest players in the league, Kristian Huselius recently completed a four-game stretch during which he tallied eight points. If he can start putting together consistent nightly efforts, he will emerge as a top-tier NHLer.
22–15–4 48 125 104 13.3% 84.0%

11 VANCOUVER CANUCKS (14): Though they lead the Northwest Division in points, the hard-charging Canucks are behind Calgary in this week’s Power Rankings because the Flames hold two games in hand, but are only one point behind.
24–18–1 49 104 110 13.0% 88.3%

12 OTTAWA SENATORS (15): Andrej Meszaros’s play has improved dramatically in recent weeks; a plus-1 in his last 10 games (a minus-14 in the 35 that preceded it), he is slowly growing into the increased responsibilities created by Zdeno Chara’s departure.
24–19–250147 127 13.8% 86.2%

13 CAROLINA HURRICANES (13): Ever so quietly, veteran winger Ray Whitney has ascended to the top of the ‘Canes’ scoring charts. With 48 points in 45 games, he’s well on his way to a career-best season.
23–18–4 50 134 132 14.4% 87.4%

14 NEW YORK RANGERS (16): The Rangers were read the riot act by head coach Tom Renney after Tuesday night’s distasteful loss to the cross-town Islanders. Look for the Blueshirts to bounce back with a strong performance against the Senators tonight.
22–18–4 48 127 135 18.4% 83.5%

15 BOSTON BRUINS (10): Losers of four of their last five games by a combined score of 28–9, the Bruins are in serious danger of letting their season slip away from them. Tonight’s matchup against the Islanders will be a huge test of their mettle.
20–17–3 43 117 145 16.8% 83.5%

16 COLORADO AVALANCHE (19): The new year has been kind to struggling forward Milan Hejduk. He has scored points in each of the Avs’ first four games in January, a sign that he might finally be rounding back into top-line form.
21–18–3 45 131 119 16.2% 80.4%

17 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (17): The youngest-ever player to be voted into the All-Star Game as a starter, Sidney Crosby is putting together a magnificent sophomore campaign. Only twice has he gone two consecutive games without a point, and never more.
18–16–7 43 126 127 14.5% 83.4%

18 EDMONTON OILERS (20): With 21 goals in just 32 games, gritty winger Ryan Smyth should crack the 40-goal mark for the first time in his career … if he can stay healthy.
20–18–4 44 118 121 13.6% 88.4%

19 MINNESOTA WILD (12): Normally know for their defensive responsibility, this year’s edition of the Wild hasn’t been very good in that regard. Only three regulars have positive ratings. Is Jacques Lemaire losing his touch?
21–19–3 45 111 114 14.5% 89.6%

20 WASHINGTON CAPITALS (23): The longer the Caps remain in the Eastern Conference playoff race, the more imperative it’ll be for GM George McPhee to use some of his substantial cap room to bring in reinforcements for the defense and second line.
19–17–7 45 134 140 15.1% 83.5%

21 NEW YORK ISLANDERS (18): Isles GM Garth Snow must decide whether Jason Blake’s career season is attributable to the fact that he’s in a contract year. If it’s not, he must figure out how much to offer the 33-year-old winger. Tough call.
20–19–3 43 119 117 13.0% 80.9%

22 TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING (24): If the Lightning fall out of the playoff picture, look for GM Jay Feaster to get the boot. Building his team around three expensive forwards was an ill-advised approach that has left the Lightning capstrapped for the foreseeable future.
21–21–2 44 135 137 15.1% 79.9%

23 PHOENIX COYOTES (25): The surging Coyotes have made up considerable ground in the standings in the past few weeks and are riding an impressive seven-game winning streak entering last night’s game against the Wings. Can Wayne Gretzky’s hard-charging Desert Dogs rise into playoff contention?
20–20–242 115 139 11.8% 80.7%

24 TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS (21): The Leafs have been astonishingly inconsistent this season, and yesterday’s announcement that underrated blueliner Ian White will miss three to four weeks with a shoulder separation is more bad news that they can ill afford.
19–19–6 44 143 144 17.1% 82.1%

25 CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS (22): Injury–plagued forward Martin Havlat is the key to the ‘Hawks’ success. He is to return to the lineup on Saturday against the Wings from his latest ailment, a groin strain, and should help kick-start the offense.
17–20–5 39 104 120 10.4% 85.1%

26 FLORIDA PANTHERS (26): Though they played fairly well in a recent road trip to the Pacific Northwest, the Panthers were able to earn only two points in the three games. It’s starting to look as though they’ll be sellers as the deadline approaches.
15–20–9 39 119 137 17.6% 84.5%

27 LOS ANGELES KINGS (28): Konstantin Pushkarev scored his first NHL goal against the Oilers on Monday night. Boasting a plethora of top-notch prospects, the Kings’ current struggles will soon be behind them.
16–22–6 38 123 153 16.7% 78.7%

28 COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS (27): Journeyman netminder Fredrik Norrena has cooled off considerably after a red-hot start. So the Blue Jackets find themselves waiting impatiently Pascal Leclaire’s return from knee surgery, still about four or five weeks away.
16–22–5 37 110 131 13.8% 83.8%

29 ST. LOUIS BLUES (29): They went 7–2–1 in the 10 games entering last night’s matchup with the Devils but gained precious little ground in the playoff race. The good news for Blues fans is that an early fire sale should yield huge dividends for 2007–08 and beyond.
14–21–7 35 96 129 11.4% 83.3%

30 PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (30): Injury-plagued center Peter Forsberg is expected to return to action tonight. If he’s able to remain healthy — and if the Flyers choose to deal him — the free agent-to-be should be a very hot commodity as the trade deadline approaches.
11–28–4 26 103 163 9.1% 87.6%

Mr. Greenstein is the editor in chief of InsideHockey.com.