Weekly Metropolitan Division Snapshot: 2/19 - 2/25

This past week saw Pittsburgh and the Islanders jump over Columbus and Philadelphia respectively, Sidney Crosby earn his 1,000th career point, and the Islanders and Devils both earn a couple of wins and losses.

Let's focus on how the top 4 teams in the division did last week. Washington continues to sit comfortably atop the division despite only playing once last week. They dropped a 3-2 shootout decision to Detroit on Saturday. Pittsburgh had a strong week, breaking 80 points on the season now, and climbing into 2nd place. They defeated Vancouver 4-0 on Tuesday and Winnipeg 4-3 in overtime on Thursday. They fell to Columbus 2-1 in overtime on Friday. The big story of the week was Penguins captain Sidney Crosby earning his 1,000th career point in the win over the Jets. Congrats to him on becoming the 86th player in league history to reach that mark. Columbus fell to the Rangers 3-2 on Monday and then went on to defeat Toronto 5-2 on Wednesday and Pittsburgh 2-1 in overtime on Friday. The Rangers round out the top 4 after defeating Columbus 3-2 on Monday and falling to the Islanders 4-2 on Thursday.

Now on to the bottom of the division. The Islanders had a week of mixed results. They defeated Colorado 5-1 on Sunday, lost 7-1 to Toronto on Tuesday, defeated the Rangers 4-2 on Thursday, and lost 3-2 to the Devils on Saturday. Philadelphia dropped a spot in the standings with the Islanders passing them last week. Philadelphia lost 3-1 to Calgary on Wednesday and 6-3 to Edmonton on Thursday. New Jersey had a busy week, losing 4-1 to San Jose on Sunday, defeating Colorado 3-2 on Tuesday, losing 3-0 to Ottawa on Thursday, and defeating the Islanders 3-2 on Saturday. Carolina lost their only game of the week on Friday, 2-1 in overtime to Colorado.

Here is the upcoming schedule of games; all games within the division are in bold.

It figures to be another action packed week for the Metropolitan teams with all but one team playing at least 3 games this week. Sunday will be the busiest day with every team in action. Washington and the Rangers will take each other on, as will the Islanders and Devils. Also happening today, we have Pittsburgh facing off against Detroit, Columbus taking on Nashville, Philadelphia going to Vancouver, and Carolina going to Toronto.

All the teams are off on Monday. The action resumes Tuesday with Pittsburgh and Carolina squaring off in divisional play. Meanwhile, the Rangers will take on Montreal, the Islanders head to Detroit, and the Devils take on Ottawa.

On Wednesday we have just one game with Washington heading to Philadelphia for a divisional game. Thursday sees the Rangers head to Toronto and the Islanders to Montreal. On Friday we have Washington taking on Edmonton and Carolina facing Ottawa.

The week wraps up with a busy Saturday with only Carolina not in action. Divisional games include Pittsburgh against Philadelphia, Columbus against the Islanders, and the Rangers taking on the Devils. Washington will head to Nashville to finish off their week.

That was what happened in the Metropolitan Division and a brief look at what's ahead for next week. How do you think the standings will look next Sunday? What games are you looking forward to? What are your thoughts on anything that has to do with these 8 teams? Leave your comments below and thank you for reading!