FanHouse LouiEriksson

In this week's power rankings, the New Jersey Devils remain one of the hottest teams in the NHL, holding off the Detroit Red Wings for the top spot thanks to an historic week for goaltender Martin Brodeur.

Vancouver makes a big jump, while the Montreal Canadiens continue to fade at the absolute worst time of the season.

On Tuesday, ESPN hockey writer Pierre Lebrun penned an entry on his blog about Dallas Stars forward Loui Eriksson and his under-the-radar, meteoric rise to 30-goal scorer in the NHL.

The basic premise of the article was essentially: this guy has more goals than a host of star players, and you probably don't know who he is.

Devils 4, Bruins 3: The premier matchup on Thursday's schedule had to be the New Jersey-Boston tilt, and it didn't disappoint as the Devils took a 4-3 decision in overtime. Jamie Langenbrunner scored a pair of goals for the Devils, including the game-winner 1:11 into overtime.

After jumping out to a 2-0 lead through the first two periods, New Jersey watched the Bruins roar back with three goals in the third period before Patrick Elias tied the game with just under two minutes to play in regulation. Zach Parise picked up his 29th goal of the season in the win, while Scott Clemmensen made 24 saves. New Jersey has now won seven consecutive games while allowing only 12 goals during the streak. Who needs Martin Brodeur, eh?

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 game of the night -- or so we thought -- was that monster matchup in Detroit, between the defending Stanley Cup champions, and the team that, thus far, has been the best team in the NHL this season. On paper, it looked like it was going to be an epic tilt. Possible Western Conference Finals preview, Mike Babcock vs. Todd Mclellan, teacher vs. student, etc. etc. etc. Of course, it was the second time they faced off this year, but, hey, it still looked like it was going to be awesome.

This, of course, is why the games aren't played on paper, as the Red Wings disposed of San Jose quite easily in a 6-0 romp at Joe Louis Arena. It's the Sharks' second straight loss, and the first game they've dropped in regulation in over a month.

For the most part, Jason Blake has been a rather large free agent bust for the Toronto Maple Leafs. After signing a five-year, $20 million deal with Toronto prior to the 2007 season, Blake scored only 15 goals for Toronto a season ago, and has been a healthy scratch on more than one occasion this season. On Tuesday, Blake scored the game-winning goal in a shootout in rather spectacular fashion -- shown above -- giving the Leafs a 3-2 win over New Jersey.

It's Toronto's third win a row, while the Devils drop their second straight.

After Mike Rupp gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead in the first period, the Leafs received a pair of second period goals from Jeremy Williams and Nik Antropov, before Zach Parise netted a power play goal with 20 seconds to play in the period, tying the game.

Vesa Toskala stopped 25 shots in the win, while also turning aside 3-of-4 shots in the shootout. Scott Clemmensen started for New Jersey, surrendering two goals in regulation on 27 shots.

Four days ago, the Penguins wrapped up an easy sweep over the Senators. Tonight, the Stars just sent the Ducks to join their opponents from last year's Stanley Cup Finals on the golf course with a relatively easy 3-1 victory over the defending champs, taking the series from them 4 games to 2.

Honestly, I was kind of alarmed by how non-chalant the Ducks were this entire series and I doubt I'm alone in that aspect. The Stars dominated the first two games with two wins by a cumulative 9-2 win before the Ducks even woke up. After winning two out of three, the Ducks only managed 17 shots tonight with their season on the line in Dallas and the prospect of a home game 7 looming. That's not going to win a playoff game against anyone.

That is, of course, not to take away from what the Stars did in this series. Their power play dominated the first two games and Marty Turco was stellar in the whole series. After Corey Perry gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead tonight, Stephane Robidas and Stu Barnes scored in the first 130 seconds of the third period, then mostly dominated the rest of the third period until the Ducks late flurry of fruitless, desperate shots. Even then, the Stars managed to add exclamation points from Loui Eriksson and Mike Modano.

Four fourth period goals allowed and only 17 shots with their playoff lives on the line? Yeah, it's time to give the Cup to someone else.

Who's In? RW Toby Peterson (EDM), LW Brad Winchester (EDM) and LW Todd Fedoruk (PHI).

Who's Out? C Eric Lindros (NHLPA), RW Matthew Barnaby (Retired), C Patrik Stefan (Switzerland), D Daryl Sydor (Pitt), D Jon Klemm (LA) and LW Ladislav Nagy (LA).

What's Changed? Not a whole lot, but that might not be a bad thing. After all, we're talking about a team that only finished three points behind Anaheim for the division title, with a tiebreaker dropping them to third behind San Jose. Once they got to the playoffs, goalie and perennial goat Marty Turco turned in the best postseason performance of his career, only to be bested by Vancouver's Roberto Luongo in a nerve-wracking seven-game defeat.

While a number of parts have departed like Nagy, Lindros, Barnaby and Sydor, management wisely decided not to overspend to replace them. Instead, a number of players are going to be expected to grow into new roles and contribute more.

In particular, Loui Eriksson will get a shot at spot on one of the two top lines, while Niklas Grossman will get to fill the vacuum created by Sydor's departure. Having deadline acquisition Mattias Norstrom on the blue line for a full season won't hurt either.

The new faces who have been imported -- Peterson, Winchester and Fedoruk -- help address one of the glaring gaps between Dallas and the defending champs: tougheness. Although truth be told, plenty of us will be happy if Fedoruk can just get through the season without suffering another catastrophic facial injury.

Dallas is still a balanced squad that plays well in all three zones and boasts a potent power play with Sergei Zubov and Philippe Boucher. Their regular season success over the past few seasons is a real tribute to head coach Dave Tippet, one of the most underrated bench bosses in the game.