The first star of the week is Max Pacioretty of the Montreal Canadiens.  The 24-year old recorded at least a point in all four of the Canadiens games last week.  In total he scored 4 goals and added 3 assists for 7 points during the week.  On the season, Pacioretty leads the Canadiens with 8 goals and 12 assists and is one reason the club is sitting in first place in the Eastern Conference.

The second star of the week is Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins.  As if losing to their rivals last night and being knocked out of first place wasn’t enough, Bergeron is runner-up to Pacioretty.  Talk about rubbing salt in the wound.  Second star is still an honor and Bergeron had a nice week offensively, matching Pacioretty’s ability to register a point in all four games and tying him with seven points (2 goals, 5 assists). On the season Bergeron has 5 goals and 13 assists and is an impressive plus-15.

The third star of the week goes to Niklas Backstrom from the Minnesota Wild.  The Finnish netminder was perfect in all three of his games last week, going 3-0-0 with a 2.00 GAA and a .914 save percentage.  Last night he defeated the Edmonton Oilers, running his home record against the Oilers to an amazing 17-0-0.  For the year, Bakstrom is 9-5-2 with a 2.21 GAA and a .917 save percentage and is proving that he could cash in on the market when he becomes a free agent this summer.

Feb 9, 2013; Montreal, QC, CAN; Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski (84) and teammateL eo Komarov (47) exchange blows with Montreal Canadiens players Max Pacioretty (67) and Francis Bouillon (55) and Brandon Prust (8) during the third period at the Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Last night’s battle of rivals between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadiens was one that did not disappoint (Leafs fans anyway). The third period of the blowout 6-0 win was the most eventful with 5 game misconducts and 3 fights. One incident in that third period has Mikhail Grabovski facing a hearing with the Department of Player Safety this afternoon.

The cause of the hearing is the scrum that took place at 11:30 in the third period. Max Pacioretty emerged from this scrum yelling and screaming and showing his wrist to the official. What was he showing him? Apparently Grabovski’s tooth marks in his arm. Yes, he is claiming Grabovski bit him.

Personally I love Mikhail Grabovski. I think he is a tough as nails player who will stick up for any of his teammates in a heartbeat. This incident makes me love him even more. Looking at the replay Pacioretty clearly shoves his wrist into the mouth of Grabovski, if there are teeth marks in his arm it could be from the force of Pacioretty’s arm hitting Grabovski’s teeth. If Grabovski did bite him it could have been because it was the only way to get Pacioretty’s arm off his face allowing him to breath. Either way Grabovski should not be punished for this incident.

The Montreal Canadiens are not happy about the alleged bite and of course are faulting Grabovski. After the game Josh Gorges had this to say “If you get in there, stand up for yourself, be a man, drop your gloves, and you’ll have respect. But bite somebody? That doesn’t belong in our league.” Now I totally agree with this statement however I don’t think it applies at all to the situation. If Grabovski did bite Pacioretty (and I don’t think he did) it was because he had no other options.

Clearly there is a decision that needs to be made by the Department of Player Safety and I hope they make the right one (by not punishing Grabovski, I think in this situation Pacioretty was the dirty player). I will leave you with the video replay and allow you to decide for yourself who deserves punishment if anyone at all and what punishment they deserve. Feel free to leave your comments below.

The top four remains unchanged with the San Jose Sharks comfortably at number one, followed by the Tampa Bay Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues.  Again, do the Hawks deserve to be ahead of the Bolts?  Probably, but it’s petty at this point arguing over number 2 and number 3 so we’ll move on to bigger and badder issues.

The Montreal Canadiens surprisingly hopped up into the top five this week based on the signing of P.K. Subban and the unexpected return of Max Pacioretty.  Petty reasons?  Perhaps, but given they are 6-2 to start the year and beat the Ottawa Senators on the weekend, we’ll let it slide this time.

The Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ottawa Senators, Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers round out the top ten.  The Ducks are soaring thanks to Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry who have helped propel the Orange County club to a nice 5-1-1 start.

The Oilers at number 10 is surprising given their record of 4-3-1.  They haven’t scored a lot of even strength goals, rather relying on the power play which leaves many questions if this club is top ten worthy.

The bottom of the pack is relatively unchanged with the Carolina Hurricanes holding steady at number 25.  The biggest drop of the week belongs to the Winnipeg Jets who were railroaded on their trip to Florida over the weekend that led to their three game losing streak in which they were outscored 18-9. Their blueline is suddenly thin with the absence of Zach Bogosian and now Dustin Byfuglien, meaning this team does not have a lot left to rely on offensively.  Don’t be surprised to see if the Jets linger around the bottom of the rankings all season long.

Sitting at 27 are the Nashville Predators, down three spots from 24.  The loss of Patric Hornqvist and Martin Erat is devastating but this club continues to grab at least a point via the shootout, making their ranking a surprise.

The Calgary Flames slid down another two spots this week from 26 to 28 and while the sit in last place in the league, they have played the fewest amount of games. Injuries and absences haven’t given the Flames a full roster yet this season and Jarome Iginla is slow out of the gate.  Miikka Kiprusoff has been hot and cold to start the year, looking great one night and terrible the next.  Many experts have picked the Flames to finish near the bottom of the Western Conference and so far the Flames are making them look like….well….experts.

The Florida Panthers and Washington Capitals flip flopped spots this week as the Caps continue to surprise everyone and lose more games than they’re winning.  Their goaltending has been bad and Ovechkin isn’t scoring.  Two things that are surely adding grey hairs to Adam Oates.

Meanwhile, back-to-back wins for the Panthers have them out of the basement in the rankings.  Throw in a healthy Stephen Weiss and a return from Kris Versteeg and suddenly the cats have a decent lineup, now they just have to start winning consistently.

It’s worth noting that the Dallas Stars fell twelve spots this week from 12 to 24.  A strong start has been replaced by a 3-5-1 record and too often they’re giving up more shots on goal then they’re generating.

Movers and Shakers: The Phoenix Coyotes were the biggest mover this week, jumping nine spots from 22 to 13 that saw them go 2-0-2 over the last seven days.

Free Fall: as already discussed, the Jets are in a nasty free fall, tumbling down seventeen spots from number 9 to 26.  And there aren’t a lot of reassuring points or perspectives for fans to grasp to, aside from pulling the rip cord.  But they signed up for five years, which could turn into five years of misery if management doesn’t get creative with this roster.