FanHouse AndrewCogliano

There are certainly at least two really good teams in the NHL's Western Conference. Defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit and fast-starting San Jose appear in the clear to duke it out for the right to play for the Stanley Cup later this year.

Of course, we know that anything can happen in a best-of-seven series. In addition, we still have half a season left to play. What we don't know is which team in this conference is set up to challenge either the Red Wings or Sharks. They've beaten - at least once - pretty much everyone who has stood in their way, including each other.

While the top of the conference appears to virtually locked in place at this point, there are still serious battles to be fought, especially for the last four positions in the West. Currently, eight teams are separated by just six points. St. Louis, the last-place team in the West, is just nine points out of eighth.

The New York Rangers spent one day in second place of the Atlantic Division, as their 4-0 win over Pittsburgh vaulted them back over Philadelphia, reclaiming the top spot in the division. New York's special teams chipped in three goals (two power play, one shorthanded) while Henrik Lundqvist was a wall in net, stopping all 27 shots he faced to pick up his first shutout of the season.

After Pittsburgh's Max Talbot was sent off for a boarding penalty just 31 seconds into the first period, Nigel Dawes scored his seventh goal of the season, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead just a minute into the game. Paul Mara added another power play goal late in the second period, one-timing a clean faceoff win by Scott Gomez behind Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Chris Drury would add his 11th goal of the season midway through the third period, while Gomez finished off the scoring with an empty net goal.

The Rangers entered the game in a minor slump, winning only once in their previous five games.

Speaking of slumps, the loss for Pittsburgh is its fifth in a row, and 11th in its past 15. Nothing is going right for the Penguins, including the power play unit which is clicking with all the power of a moped. Head coach Michel Therrien tried to change up the lines for the game, and received the same results.

Miroslav Satan was relegated to fourth-line duty and played a whopping nine-minutes (and only four-minutes through two periods) and finished as a -1 with a penalty. Alex Goligoski, the team's leading scorer among defensemen, was a healthy scratch.

It's great to see quality NHL action return to Chicago after years of disappointing hockey, and man, what a team the windy city has. With their 4-1 win in Minnesota on Sunday, the Blackhawks picked up their ninth straight victory, improving their record to 20-6-7, good enough for the fifth best record in the league.

Chicago received a four-point performance from Dustin Byfuglien, who scored a pair of goals in the first period and also added a pair of assists later in the game, as the Blackhawks dominated Minnesota. Cristobal Huet faced only 19 shots, turning away 18 of them to pick up his fifth consecutive win in goal. During his personal winning streak, Huet has allowed only four goals, posting a .967 save percentage.

Cal Clutterbuck scored Minnesota's only goal, while Martin Havlat and Kris Versteeg added tallies for the Blackhawks.

While Chicago has been reeling off win after win, the Wild have been going the opposite direction winning just two of their past 10 games.

Oh my, they're not going to like this in Buffalo. After the Penguins and Sabres skated to a 3-3 tie in regulation, Sidney Crosby deflected an Evgeni Malkin slap shot behind Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller in overtime, giving the Penguins a 4-3 win. As you can see from the above video, it was oh-so-close to being a high-stick.

They key, however, is that the call on the ice was that it was indeed a goal, meaning they would need conclusive evidence to overturn it. Is that conclusive? It's pretty darn close. The fact it's Crosby on the positive end of the call isn't going to sit well with anyone outside of Pittsburgh, I'm guessing, especially after he got away with punching some guy in the goods a week ago. So, cue the conspiracy theories! Anyway, what's done is done, Penguins win, and the Sabres blew three different leads on the night, including a 2-0 advantage in the second period, while going 1-for-6 on the power play.

Pittsburgh's Alex Goligoski picked up three points (two goals, assist) in the win, while Malkin added three helpers in his quest for 100. Malkin, by the way, now has 43 assists on the season -- an amazing number when you consider there were only three players in the NHL entering play on Monday with 43 points (Malkin, Crosby and Alex Ovechkin).

Tuesday night's game against Edmonton is probably one that Columbus goalie Pascal Leclaire would like to permanently erase from his memory, seeing as how it's probably the worst game he's ever played in the NHL. Leclaire gave up seven goals on just 19 shots, as the Oilers rolled to a 7-2 victory, snapping a three-game losing streak.

Columbus finished with a commanding edge in the shots department, firing 39 shots at Dwayne Roloson -- he stopped 37 of them -- and still managed to skate away losing by five goals.

Seven different players scored for Edmonton, including Dustin Penner, who returned to the ice after being banished to the press box for the past two games for, well, not being fit enough to help the club. Penner was also a factor on Edmonton's first goal, as he parked his massive frame in front of Leclaire, providing a screen on Sheldon Souray's blast from the point. Andrew Cogliano, Tom Gilbert, Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Shawn Horcoff and Lubomir Visnovsky also scored for the Oilers.

Kristian Huselius and Rick Nash scored the only goals for the Blue Jackets.

Every few weeks, FanHouse will feature a look at this season's rookie class, spotlighting surprising diamonds on the rough, struggling blue chippers, and everyone else in between.

After about a half dozen games, we're approaching the point where teams with junior-eligible players have to decide to keep the player for the entire season, or send him back down. Sam Gagner (pictured) of Edmonton, as discussed previously, is the biggest such name. Teams must weight the benefit of developing and having the player on their roster against the possibility that said player will become an unrestricted free agent at the age of 25 or 26.

Now that we're well underway, we've also had a pretty decent look at this season's rookie class, and can see a few trends.

1. Rebuilding teams are doing well. The Phoenix Coyotes, Edmonton Oilers, and Chicago Blackhawks each two of their rookies in the top 10 in the rookie scoring race.

2. Andrew Cogliano = The early leader. While Sam Gagner grabs all of the headlines, Cogliano has been the one churning out the offence for the struggling Oilers. With five points in six games, the 20-year old 2005 first rounder looks to have arrived in style. He's also the only rookie to have a short-handed goal, pointing to his flexibility to adapt to many roles and kill penalties.