With the Devils and Penguins leading the Division with 28 points, the Flyers, Rangers and Islanders are all tied with 23. With that being said the whole division is only separated by five points.
All though we are only a quarter of the way through the NHL season, if it would end today the whole division would make the playoffs along with the North East Division leader Buffalo Sabers and the South East Divisions Washington Capitals.
The Devils are on their game and proved to be a tuff road team with a record of 9-1 away from their building being lead by Z. Parise with 24 points and the legend M. Brodeur between the pipes holding down a 12-5 record and a 2.21 Goals Against Average. With Parise and Brodeur on their game and their great road record you can see why they are tied on top of the Atlantic with the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Stanley Cup champs picked up where they left off by winning it all last season they started this season off at 9-1. They lost E. Malkin for a few games and hit a skid but got back on the winning track with him back in the lineup winning their last two and hold that top spot with Devils with a 14-7 record.
The Philadelphia Flyers stand at 11-5-1 and were the first team to hand the New Jersey Devils their first road loss of the season. The Flyers also have games in hand on every team in the division with two games in hand on the Devils they have four games in hand on the Penguins, Rangers and Islanders. Flyers are lead by one of the best if not the best defensemen in the league Chris Pronger. Jeff Carter leads the team in scoring with 19 points as Pronger and Mike Richards both have 17.
The Rangers who started off the season hot at 7-1 have cooled off as of late since. Even though the Rangers have been on the losing side of their games of late they've been in all of them. Lead by M. Gaborik with 27 points he is currently in second place in the league lead for points over all with 15 goals and 12 assists. If the Rangers can get the rest of their guys going and stay healthy they will be a threat as well.
The surprise of the division has got the fans excited in Long Island again. Starting the season off they couldn't get a win but they managed to get points in a bunch of games losing in over time. The Islanders started their season off at 1-4-5 getting their first win of the season against the Carolina Hurricanes in a shoot out they finally got their first win on the season in regulation against the NY Rangers and have gone 7-2-2 since that win. The Islanders are getting the job done with their youth explosion of John Tavares number one pick over all in the 2009 draft and with M. Moulson and K. Okposo connecting. Goalie D. Roloson has been getting the nod of late between the pipes and has a 6-1 record in goal with a 2.77 G.A.A. Their captain D. Weight is out of the line up along with goalie R. DiPietro. This team will get some leadership back when those two suit up again and the Islanders kids should only get better.
In a nutshell this division could be up for grabs, but at the moment the Penguins, Flyers and the Devils look to be the tuffest. With the Rangers and Islanders right there this will be an interesting race to watch as it unfolds. It's very tuff to pick one but you really can't deny the debth of the defending champs team.
Stay tuned for Part 2 of this article as we hit the mid-way point of the season in early January 2010.
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