Only in the NHL...

...can an undefeated team actually be behind a team with two losses in the standings.

So, going into tonight's action, Washington is 7-0, a win percentage of 1.000 with a blistering scoring ratio of 2.14 (GF/GA, a much better indicator than the simplistic "points differential", which is +16). They have not lost at home, they have not lost the road - they have not lost.

Pittsburgh, on the other hand, is 8-2, a win percentage of 0.800 (lower than Washington), a strong scoring ratio of 1.5 (lower than Washington), and a points differential of +12 (lower than Washington). They've lost at home (worse than Washington), and they've lost on the road (worse than Washington). They are behind Washington in every stat we just mentioned.

But, in the Eastern Conference standings, Pittsburgh is on top while Washington is in second...because of oddball scheduling that has managed to put 5 more games on Pittsburgh's schedule than Washington's at this point in time.

As mentioned previously, the win percentage eliminates the uneven schedule as a factor in standings. Why bother with this ridiculous point allocation for wins and overtime losses, especially when the clearly better team is not recognized accordingly?

By the way, tonight Edmonton finally beat Washington, "dropping" them to 7-1 or 0.875, which is still a better win percentage and is still good for first place in the Eastern Conference...if they played in a league with that wasn't as clueless as the NHL.