Phil Kessel delivered the winning goal in the Bruins' shootout win this past weekend - could he and the Bruins finally be turning the corner?

Very few fans expected Jeremy Roenick to be back this season, and San Jose was nowhere near the top of the list for those who did expect him to come back. (Then again, San Jose is not far from Hollywood…) But J.R. is indeed back, and he finally scored another goal 15 days after scoring a pair in the Sharks’ first win of the season. Roenick’s power play goal on Saturday gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead over the Predators, and Evgeni Nabokov stopped all 22 shots he faced to give San Jose a 3-0 win. At 4-3-1 heading into Monday’s game against Calgary, the Sharks trail the Stars by a single point in the Pacific division. Winger Jonathan Cheechoo, who scored 56 goals two years ago and slipped to 37 goals last season, has scored just two goals in eight games, while Roenick and Milan Michálek (four goals) have picked up the slack.

The Sharks’ win on Saturday gave the Predators their fifth consecutive loss, dropping them to 2-5-0 on the season. There has been tremendous speculation in the Nashville area that the team could be sold and moved to Hamilton, Ontario, or some other far-away locale. Ticketmaster even started accepting deposits for season tickets in Hamilton before their web site was shut down, thanks in part to renewed interest on the part of billionaire Jim Balsillie, who almost bought the Penguins and moved them out of Pittsburgh before a last-minute compromise was reached. Nashville will play at home twice this week (Atlanta and Florida) – their only two home games out of their next nine contests. Their next home game is November 10th against Columbus – and by then, Nashville might not be their home any more.

The Chicago Blackhawks have defined exciting hockey lately, with one-goal wins over Detroit and Dallas last week and a pair of thrillers this week. In between, they dropped a 3-1 contest to the Blues, giving St. Louis their fourth straight win (their streak was stopped by the unbeatable Wild on Saturday) as Manny Legace stopped 28 of 29 shots. Chicago rebounded to beat the Avalanche 5-3 after blowing a 3-0 lead – rookie Patrick Kane scored his first NHL goal and also netted a pair of assists – and then rallied from a 3-1 deficit at the beginning of the third period to beat the Leafs 6-4 (Kane had another two assists).

I started the column discussing Jeremy Roenick, who used to battle Mike Modano for the title of “best American hockey player” after Joey Mullen and Pat LaFontaine got a little older. Don’t look now, but Kane could push his way into the discussion if he keeps up this torrid pace, challenging incumbents Chris Drury and Scott Gomez.

The Ottawa Senators rolled through another two teams this week to improve their record to 8-1-0 and take a 6-point lead in the Northeast division. Goalie Ray Emery returned to stop 31 of 32 shots in a 4-1 win against Florida, and earlier in the week, Jason Spezza finally scored his first goal of the season to give the Senators a 4-3 win over Montreal. The Senators will have a full week off to enjoy their success and prepare for a game in New Jersey on Saturday.

The Flyers recorded a pair of shutouts (both by Martin Biron) and a 3-2 overtime win against Carolina on Saturday to run their winning streak to five games and improve their overall record to 6-1-0. Simon Gagne scored a pair of goals against the Hurricanes to give him four goals for the season – one of four Flyers to reach that total in the team’s first seven games. Mike Richards (5 goals) leads the team, followed by Gagne, Daniel Briere and Jeff Carter. Biron has played every minute for Philadelphia and has an incredible save percentage of .952. The Flyers will begin an eight-game road trip this week and hope to return home still atop the Atlantic Division.

If you are looking for another hot team in the Eastern Conference, you might want to check out the Boston Bruins. Clearly, with the Red Sox headed to the World Series and the Patriots dominating the NFL, the Bruins have a great opportunity to fly under the radar. They beat the Rangers in a shootout on Saturday after the overtime period ended in a 0-0 tie – Phil Kessel, the Bruins’ third shooter, gave his team the win and Manny Fernandez stopped all 26 shots he faced, plus three more in the shootout. That gave the Bruins their fourth straight win and improved their record to 5-2-0, good for second place in the Northeast division. Kessel, who scored just 11 goals in 70 games as a rookie last year (after being picked fifth overall in the 2006 draft), has already scored three goals this year, but his minus-4 rating is still cause for concern. As is the fact that all three goals came in the same 8-6 win over Los Angeles.

I alluded to it earlier, so here is my (admittedly unscientific and not thoroughly researched) listing of the top 10 NHL players of American descent – at this exact moment, giving no credit for past performance before this season:

1. Chris Drury, C, New York Rangers
2. Ryan Miller, G, Buffalo Sabres
3. Rick DiPietro, G, New York Islanders
4. Scott Gomez, C, New York Rangers
5. Brian Rafalski, D, Detroit Red Wings
6. Zach Parise, LW, New Jersey Devils
7. Patrick Kane, RW, Chicago Blackhawks
8. Keith Tkachuk, LW, St. Louis Blues
9. Chris Chelios, D, Detroit Red Wings
10. Erik Johnson, D, St. Louis Blues

Questions and comments may be sent to johnfranco@sportsgrumblings.com