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Are the Columbus Blue Jackets for real? They sure look like it. And how about Tampa Bays response after losing Steven Stamkos? The Bolts?simply put their heads down and got to work. Have the Florida Panthers arrived? This weeks Rankings certainly have. Here we go:1. (Last week: 1)?Chicago Blackhawks, 13-4-2The Blackhawks notched wins in Calgary and Vancouver over the weekend as the circus trip rolled on. Chicagos younger forwards are starting to step up.2. (3)?New York Rangers, 13-5-1A home-and-home set with the rival Penguins looms on Monday and Wednesday. Giddy-up.3. (4) Montreal Canadiens, 14-3-2The Habs now have won 12 straight games over the Maple Leafs, but the young Buds are making it tougher on them. Saturdays 2-1 affair was a treat to watch. This age-old rivalry is entering a new phase.4. (5)?Washington Capitals, 11-5-2Has Evgeny Kuznetsov decided to take November off? Hes stuck at just seven points on the season.5. (11)?Tampa Bay Lightning, 12-6-1The surging Bolts can sweep their five-game road trip with a win on Monday night in Nashville. Life without captain Stamkos still will be a challenge, but Tampa Bay has a deep and talented forward group.6. (2)?Pittsburgh Penguins, 11-4-3After getting pasted 7-1 by the Capitals last week and suffering a 2-1 shootout loss at Buffalo, its time for the Penguins to reset. And what better way to get the juices flowing than to face the Rangers twice to kick off the week?7. (15)?Columbus Blue Jackets, 10-4-2The red-hot Jackets are 7-1-1 in November, including wins over Montreal, Anaheim, St. Louis, the Rangers and Washington (twice).8.?(16) St. Louis Blues, 10-6-3The Blues are 8-1-2 at home but just 2-5-1 on the road, where theyll be playing their next two games -- in Boston and Washington, respectively. Its time for St. Louis to get things going away from the friendly confines.9. (7) New Jersey Devils, 9-5-3Life without leading scorer Taylor Hall is going to be tough. The Devils werent exactly an offensive juggernaut with him in the lineup -- and now hell be out 3-4 weeks.10.?(12) Boston Bruins, 11-7-0Since dropping to 3-4-0 on Oct. 26, the Bruins have gone 8-3-0 as they begin to jell and look like a more cohesive unit.11. (19)?Florida Panthers, 10-8-1Have the Panthers arrived? Big wins at the Bell Centre and Madison Square Garden during their recent 3-1-0 road trip suggest so.12.?(8) Ottawa Senators, 10-7-1The Senators have dropped three of four as they get set for a big game on Tuesday night at Montreal. They beat the first-place Habs in a shootout back on Oct. 15.13.?(10) Minnesota Wild, 9-7-1Said a veteran scout to me over the weekend regarding the Wilds 1-0 win over the Bruins last Thursday, in which Devan Dubnyk and Tuukka Rask?each did their thing: That was one of the best goalie duels Ive seen in a long, long time.14.?(17) Los Angeles Kings, 10-9-1The Kings have won three in a row, including an entertaining game Sunday night across town in Anaheim. Peter Budaj keeps answering the bell.15.?(9) Anaheim Ducks, 9-7-3The Ducks, Oilers and Kings are all tied at 21 points in the topsy-turvy Pacific, with the Sharks just two points back. Hold on to your seats; this division is going down to the wire.16.?(6) San Jose Sharks, 9-8-1The Sharks went 3-2-1 on their road trip and now open up a five-game homestand at the Shark Tank, beginning with New Jersey on Monday night. San Jose is only 26th in goals per game and 16th on the power play, which is kind of stunning.17.?(13) Edmonton Oilers, 10-8-1Connor McDavid?had his first NHL career hat trick Saturday in Dallas and will have many more. More important, the Oilers win snapped a five-game losing streak.18. (18) Nashville Predators, 7-7-3Im really intrigued by Monday nights home game for the Predators, with surging Tampa Bay coming to town. About a week ago, it looked like Nashville had turned a corner -- but then the Preds lost games in Toronto and St. Louis, sandwiched around a win in Ottawa.19.?(21) Dallas Stars, 7-7-5The injury-riddled Stars have dropped three of four and just keep sputtering. This is an entertaining?team built to score, but I suggest that Dallas goes back to some defensive basics for a while so it can find some footing.20.?(26) Carolina Hurricanes, 7-6-4The Hurricanes have won four in a row, including decisions over Washington and Montreal. Veteran Cam Ward?has been rock-solid in net for Carolina of late and the Hurricanes have the top-ranked PK in the league.21.?(14) Winnipeg Jets, 9-10-2Just when it looked like the Jets were ready to fly, they dropped the opening three games of their road trip. This team is better than its record.22. (19) Toronto Maple Leafs, 8-7-3The Leafs are third in goals per game and 27th in goals against per game. Theyll get better on the latter as the season goes on.23. (20) Philadelphia Flyers, 8-8-3A Flyers team that has lost five of seven now faces a tough, two-game swing through Florida and Tampa this week.24.?(28) Calgary Flames, 8-11-1Has Chad Johnson taken the No. 1 job from Brian Elliott? Johnson has been in net four consecutive games as the Flames have won three of four.25.?(20) Detroit Red Wings, 8-10-1A win over St. Louis on Oct. 27 improved the Wings to 6-2-0 on the season. Theyve since gone 2-8-1, including four straight losses.26.?(24) Colorado Avalanche, 8-9-0There has been so much focus on the Avs open goalie battle, but the real spotlight should be on the fact that Colorado is just 27th in goals per game.27.?(27) Buffalo Sabres, 6-8-4The Sabres showed real life with a shootout win over the Penguins on Saturday night, which snapped a six-game winless streak. Can they feed off that emotion?28.?(29) Vancouver Canucks, 7-10-2The Canucks blew a 3-0 third period lead Saturday night at home to Chicago in a 4-3 OT loss. Oy. The hits keep on coming.29.?(25) New York Islanders,?5-8-4This summer, John Tavares will be one year away from unrestricted free-agent status. He has always maintained that he wants to be an Islander for life. This is just my opinion, but this season needs to turn around in order for him not to challenge that loyalty.30.?(29) Arizona Coyotes, 6-9-2Mike Smith had 43 saves on Saturday night as the Coyotes snapped a four-game winless streak with an OT win over the Sharks. Carlos Beltran Astros Jersey . Toronto has dropped games to Indiana and Miami since a five-game winning streak and closed out a three-game road trip at 1-2. Hector Rondon Jersey . - Connor McDavid scored 53 seconds into overtime as the Erie Otters came from behind to defeat the visiting Guelph Storm 4-3 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. https://www.cheapastros.com/733o-aledmys-diaz-jersey-astros.html . Their 38th instalment is arguably their biggest fight card to date, including three-title fights and a main event which was selected by the fans. The promotion boasts 14-straight years of business and is operated by MFC president Mark Pavelich, who is often overlooked in this country for the foundation hes established for MMA in Canada. Carlos Lee Astros Jersey . After dropping their final six games of December, the Wild opened the new calendar year with four consecutive wins. Following a loss to Colorado on Saturday, Minnesota rebounded the following night to blank Nashville 4-0, but then had the tables turned on them Tuesday. Doug Rader Astros Jersey . -- Team after team passed on Andre Ellington in the draft. On Friday evening, Mohammed Shami took his first Test wicket in a year, six months, and 13 days. If any wicket is worth that long a wait, one necessitated by injury, surgery, and 40 days on crutches, this was probably it.The seam was bolt upright as the ball left Shamis hand, with no hint of wobble, and the impact of seam on turf caused the ball to move away from Rajendra Chandrika. It pitched just short of a good length, not too far from off stump, climbed a few inches more than Chandrika possibly expected, and drew an instinctive jab. Outside edge taken, chance accepted, and West Indies, replying to Indias 566 for 8 declared, were 29 for 1.It was a beautiful delivery, from a bowler fully capable of bowling them, but perhaps few had really expected him to produce that particular kind of delivery.Before this Test, 48.94% of Shamis Test wickets were either bowled or leg before, and only 31.91% caught behind or in the slip cordon. Those numbers reflected the skills he was primarily known for: pace, a fullish, attacking length, and an ability to reverse the ball. He possessed a sharp bouncer too, but did not necessarily generate steep bounce from a good length or just short of it.He often got wickets for the opposite reason, with balls that skidded on, losing very little pace off the pitch, reaching the batsman quicker than expected, perhaps even a shade lower than expected, and punishing them for camping in the crease.Marlon Samuels knew all about this. Shami, on Test debut, had dismissed him twice with deliveries skidding through from that perfect length, the shortest possible length he could land on while still hitting the stumps. Samuels was caught on the crease both times, bowled for 65 in the first innings and lbw for 4 in the second.On Saturday, two-and-a-half years later, Samuels faced Shami again. He seemed to be reminding himself of those dismissals, and seemed to be a man fighting his muscle memory, a man of sluggish footwork telling himself to press forward. The result of that internal struggle was a sort of crouching shuffle across the crease, and Shami wrong-footed him twice with bouncers. Samuels got under both of them, hunching awkwardly low.Shamis 16th ball to Samuels landed on the fullish side of a good length, in the corridor. Samuels shuffled across once more, leaning forward, and aimed for a push into the covers. All he managed was a thin edge. It settled snugly in Wriddhiman Sahas gloves, and Shami had become the joint-quickest Indian fast bowler to 50 Test wickets.Once again there was movement, and once again a bit of extra bounce. The ball had brushed the edge of Samuels bat close to its shoulder. In between the Chandrika and Samuels dismissals, Shami had dismissed Darren Bravo with a not dissimilar delivery, though shorter. Three balls after sending back Samuels, he got Jermaine Blackwood to fend another awkwardly lifting ball to gully.Four wickets, all of them the result of extra bounce. This was new, and unexpected. It caused you to watch every step of his action just that little closer. Once you did that, there was one obvious change from the Shami of old. In his first couple of years of international cricket, Shami had an idiosyncratiic run to the crease, a gallop of unusually long strides.dddddddddddd A number of experts had suggested this could cause a loss of stability when he reached the crease, and had ascribed this as a reason for his tendency to bowl loose balls. Around the time of the 2015 World Cup, Shami had said he was making an effort to shorten his running strides, and had credited Shoaib Akhtar with giving him the suggestion.Now, making his Test comeback at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, Shami was sprinting in with noticeably shorter strides. The question still remained: did this have any connection with the bounce he was generating?Pondering it, Ian Bishop, the former West Indies fast bowler, suggested the bounce might have had less to do with shorter running strides than with a possible knock-on effect: a shorter delivery stride. This, he said, would give the bowler a higher point of release, and, as a consequence, the possibility of extra bounce. He took the example of Shannon Gabriel, who had troubled India with steep lift during their first innings.Before he suffered the ankle injury that cut short his 2015-16 Australia tour, Gabriels delivery stride, Bishop said, had grown progressively longer without him quite realising it, causing him to lose height at the crease.In the months following his recovery, Gabriel had worked hard to correct this. It wasnt easy to tell if Shami had also, by design or as a byproduct of his reduced running stride, shortened his delivery stride, but Bishop felt he was achieving good height at release. What also pleased him was Shamis alignment at the crease, his feet lined up to point him precisely where he wanted to bowl.It told in his line. On a pitch where bounce often seemed to be the fast bowlers only friend, Ishant Sharma may have been expected to provide the main threat, but while he did achieve steep lift, his line wasnt as close to off stump as Shamis. He did not make the batsmen play as often, and did not, as a result, force as many errors.As the rest of West Indies top order crumbled around him, Kraigg Brathwaite waged lonely resistance, his method simple and effective. Blessed with excellent judgment of line, he ignored as many deliveries as he could outside off stump, and waited patiently for straighter balls he could work into the leg side. Forty-eight of his 74 runs came in that direction. The cover drive barely made an appearance. Most of his off-side runs came square or behind square, when the bowlers dropped short.In all, Brathwaite left 53 balls. But he didnt leave with equal ease against all of Indias bowlers. He left 31 of the 67 balls he faced from Ishant, 13 out of 45 from Umesh Yadav, and only 6 out of 31 from Shami. He passed Shamis fourth-stump examination, but four of his team-mates didnt.This, in short, was high-class Test bowling: pace, movement, and that new-found bounce, all allied to an excellent length and a line that forced the batsmen to play, or think about playing. A better batting side may have made fewer mistakes, but Shami was still asking the right questions, over and over. ' ' '