Six NHL stories you might have missed while your attention was diverted by Mr. Anger Management:
1. Meadville's Jamie Plunkett, the winningest high school coach in Pennsylvania history, once told me that a power-play success rate of 23 percent would be phenomenal for his team if sustained over the course of a full season. Twenty-six games into this NHL year, the Detroit Red Wings are clicking at 30.3 percent overall and 33.9 percent on the road against decidely non-high school competition. It's no surprise the Wings are tied for second in league points with 40.
2. The team that's first in points, San Jose, has lost just five of its first 27 games, and only three in regulation. At this pace the Sharks would break the record for points in a season set by the 1976-77 Montreal Canadiens with 132. They also could challenge the Red Wings' record of 62 wins in a single season, set in 1995-96.
3. While Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have been treating fans to all-world performances for the past few weeks, teammate Jordan Staal, 20, has blossomed into the all-around player whose separate parts were on display the previous two seasons. He has nine goals and 15 points in 26 games, including a four-point game against Detroit Nov. 11. He's a plus-three, plays in all situations, takes important faceoffs and now gives the Pens a legitimate scoring threat on a formidable third line.
4. The Los Angeles Kings appear to be emulating what the Penguins have built since the lockout. Anze Kopitar, Alexander Frolov, Dustin Brown, Patrick O'Sullivan and Drew Doughty are the young guns, with only a consistent goalie between LA and a playoff berth.
5. Former Erie Otters captain Brad Boyes is tied for ninth in league goals with 13 and for 26th in points with 25. He's playing lights-out, with three goals and eight points in his past five games, though the Blues have only a 2-2-1 record to show for it as they fight through injuries that have shelved Paul Kariya and Andy McDonald. Boyes is on pace to match the career-high 43 goals he scored a year ago.
6. Big games this week: Sabres at Penguins, 7 p.m. today, 7 p.m.; Flames at Red Wings, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday; Ducks at Sharks, 10:30 p.m. Thursday; Penguins at Flyers, 1 p.m. Saturday.