Trietley: Coyotes, Islanders and more highlight early season NHL shocks

I think I’ve been holding my newspaper upside-down.

Most people at the start of the season expected the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals to sit near the top of the conference, but nobody expected Colorado to pace the West and Detroit to falter.

Let’s take a look at a few of hockey’s surprise teams — both good and bad — this year.

Colorado Avalanche

The Avalanche entered Sunday tied with San Jose for first place in the conference, an unexpected start for a team that finished last by 10 points just a year ago.

With career backup Craig Anderson in goal, most publications picked Colorado to miss the playoffs. But Anderson now sits near the top of the league with a .934 save percentage.

The retirement of Joe Sakic in July left the team without any recognizable stars on offense. Two months into the season, though, rookie center Ryan O’Reilly has 14 points in 17 games, and ninth-round draft pick David Jones has five goals.

In the end, though, Colorado is a pretender — Anderson, having never played more than 31 games in a season, will fall back to Earth. Anderson played like this last November and stole the starting job in Florida only to give it back up shortly thereafter.

New York Islanders

The Islanders make about six moves every offseason that you’re allowed to chuckle at. This summer, with goaltender Rick DiPietro already under contract for 12 more years, they signed both Martin Biron and Dwayne Roloson. They inked Mark Streit last summer, a high-scoring defenseman who most people saw as a liability in his own zone.

New York is getting the last laugh. Streit plays about 25 minutes a night against opponents’ top lines, and Biron and Roloson are carrying the load in goal while DiPietro nurses a bad knee.

Add in first overall draft pick John Tavares’ 13 points, and the Islanders are fun to watch. Don’t be surprised if they sneak into the playoffs.

Buffalo Sabres

If you’re looking for the league’s top defense, you probably wouldn’t look to upstate New York where the Buffalo Sabres usually run an offense-first, defense-when-necessary style.

But before recent losses to Philadelphia and Boston, the Sabres averaged two goals against per game. Rookie defenseman Tyler Myers, standing at 6-foot-8, hears a Zdeno Chara comparison once a week.

Still, the Sabres won’t go far this season. Goaltender Ryan Miller plays almost every game. Without a capable backup — former Penguin Patrick Lalime sees the ice once a month — Miller will tire in the spring, when he will play for Team USA in the Olympics in addition to his workload with Buffalo.

Boston Bruins

The Bruins won the East last year, but the salary cap compelled them to trade away 36-goal scorer Phil Kessel, and the team has struggled to score this season.

Don’t think Boston won’t contend this year, though. Injuries are to blame for its current 7-7-2 record. Milan Lucic, the hardest hitter in the league, hasn’t played since Oct. 16 because of a broken finger, which he probably suffered while wrestling a bear. Top center Marc Savard has a broken left foot, and David Krejci has the H1N1 virus.

Once these players return, the Bruins will climb back up the Eastern Conference standings.

Phoenix Coyotes

With all the relocation talk, it might shock you to hear that Coyotes still play hockey. It might shock you even more to hear that the Coyotes play hockey well.

The Coyotes sit sixth in the West with 20 points entering Sunday’s games. Starting goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov leads the league with three shutouts.

The Coyotes’ roster looks like a “Where are they now?” list, with veterans Robert Lang, Adrian Aucoin and Ed Jovanovski all contributing. I owe a cookie to whoever thought Vernon Fiddler would have eight points already this season.

If the franchise’s money problems ever sort themselves out, the Coyotes could have a nice little future in Phoenix or wherever they end up.

The Central Division

The Central Division is a Twilight Zone-esque journey into the unexplainable. Brian Rafalski and Nicklas Lidstrom are two of the top 10 defensemen in the game, yet Detroit can’t stop opponents from lighting up Chris Osgood. The losing team in the Finals usually falters at the start of the following year, and the Red Wings are no exception.

Meanwhile, Calder Trophy-winning goaltender Steve Mason has given up four or more goals in six of his 13 starts this year, but his Columbus Blue Jackets still lead the division. St. Louis finished last season on a several month-long hot streak, but the Blues are just 5-6-3 this year.

Somebody needs to explain all this to me.