Helene Elliott’s NHL rankings

Through Monday’s games

Rank Team Record (Last week’s ranking)

1. Washington 48-14-10 Alexander Ovechkin returned from his too-short two-game suspension to score the winner for the Capitals over Tampa Bay on Saturday.(1)

2. Phoenix 46-22-5 Kudos to the Coyotes for winning nine straight and overtaking San Jose for the Pacific Division lead. (2)

3. Chicago 45-19-7 Defenseman Brent Seabrook, victim of a dirty hit from the Ducks’ James Wisniewski, missed the first two games after he was clobbered. (3)

4. Pittsburgh 42-25-6 Evgeni Malkin missed two games because of a bruised foot but returned for an overtime loss to Carolina on Saturday. (6)

5. Nashville 42-26-5 The Predators have won six in a row, all with Pekka Rinne in goal. (9)

6. Vancouver 44-24-4 The Canucks allowed a season-high 54 shots in Saturday’s overtime loss to Detroit, but they’re still 6-2-2 in their last 10. (4)

7. San Jose 43-19-10 Think of the Sharks’ six-game losing streak this way: They’re folding a little earlier than usual this season. (5)

8. Buffalo 39-22-10 The Sabres win three straight to end a 3-1-1 trip. Tough to believe they had an eight-game road losing streak. (12)

9. Kings 42-24-5 They beat Colorado Monday almost entirely on grit, which is a good sign after their post-Olympic slide. (8)

10. Colorado 40-25-7 Avalanche gets only one point out of its visit to Anaheim and Los Angeles, and that’s not enough. (7)

11. New Jersey 42-25-4 The Devils’ powerless power play is 0 for 17 in their last six games. (10)

12. Detroit 36-23-13 Henrik Zetterberg leads the Red Wings past the Penguins in a Stanley Cup rematch. But Pittsburgh keeps the Cup. (11)

13. Montreal 36-30-7 Goalie Jaroslav Halak lost a shootout to Toronto but is still 5-1 in the tiebreaking procedure. (13)

14. Philadelphia 37-30-5 The Flyers’ goaltending will be their undoing. They were outscored, 8-3, in losing twice to Atlanta over the weekend. (15)

15. Boston 32-27-12 The Bruins won a showdown with the Rangers on Sunday to give themselves a cushion in the East playoff race. (17)

16. Ottawa 38-30-5 Win over Montreal on Monday ended a five-game losing streak. (14)

17. Calgary 36-27-9 The Flames remain underachievers. Scary moment Sunday when Daymond Langkow was hit in the neck by a puck. (16)

18. St. Louis 34-29-9 The Blues’ blown lead over the Predators on Sunday leaves them a league-worst 12-18-5 at home. (19)

19. Ducks 34-29-8 They’ve won four straight against some tough teams. Where was their offense and energy coming out of the Olympics break? (22)

20. Atlanta 32-29-11 The Thrashers have won four straight — including a weekend sweep of the Flyers — to keep themselves in the East playoff race. (26)

21. Minnesota 35-31-6 The Wild won’t make the playoffs — and played spoiler for the Flames’ playoff hopes Sunday. (18)

22. Dallas 31-27-14 Mike Modano has missed the last four games because of an appendectomy. (21)

23. Carolina 30-34-8 The Hurricanes beat the Penguins and Capitals but fell to the Sabres in a taxing stretch. (24)

24. Florida 29-31-11 Goalie Scott Clemmensen starts and beats Tampa Bay after two relief appearances. (27)

25. N.Y. Rangers 31-32-9 Four straight losses for the worst team free-agent money has bought. (20)

26. Columbus 29-31-12 The Blue Jackets fade into draft lottery land. They haven’t scored a power-play goal in four games. (25)

27. N.Y. Islanders 29-33-10 Southern California isn’t very hospitable to them: They lost one-goal games at Anaheim and Los Angeles. (28)

28. Toronto 26-34-12 The Maple Leafs have won seven of 10 games, to the dismay of the Bruins. Why, you ask? The Bruins got Toronto’s first-round pick in the Phil Kessel trade. (29)

29. Tampa Bay 28-32-12 The Lightning has lost five straight and 12 of the last 14, quashing any playoff hopes. (23)

30. Edmonton 23-42-7 Goalie Devan Dubnyk needed 14 appearances to earn his first NHL victory, on Saturday. He earned No. 2 on Sunday, beating the Sharks. (30)

helene.elliott@latimes.com

twitter.com/helenenothelen