Welcome to the final Power Rankings for October. Next week, Pierre LeBrun takes over the rankings reins, which is a little like waking up to find that the extras from "The Walking Dead" are in charge of the operation. So enjoy the last semblance of order and logic to the weekly listings, where I once again give a nod to elite teams north of the border and a guy named Sidney Crosby, and send my heartfelt good thoughts to Craig Anderson and his family.
1. (Last week: 1) Montreal Canadiens, 8-0-1
The Habs continue to roll, racking up their seventh consecutive win Saturday against Toronto. They are the only team in the NHL without a regulation loss and Shea Weber has been a force, leading Montreal with 10 points. Three of Weber's four goals have been game winners. Never mind the Norris Trophy -- Weber for MVP, anyone?
2. (2) Edmonton Oilers, 7-2-0
The Oilers continue to make magic with impressive play on both sides of the puck -- in spite of their 2-0 defeat at home against Ottawa on Sunday. Connor McDavid remains the league's top scorer, and the Oilers have the Western Conference's second-best goal differential, at plus-10.
3. (19) Minnesota Wild, 6-2-1
The Wild have made immediate improvement under head coach Bruce Boudreau, including winning three in a row, all courtesy of Devan Dubnyk shutouts. Minnesota owns a Western Conference-best plus-13 goal differential, not to mention the league's best penalty-killing unit. The loss of Zach Parise, who is week-to-week with a lower-body injury, is a major one, though.
4. (10) Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-2-1
I guess Crosby is OK. The Pittsburgh captain has lit it up since returning to action following a concussion. He has four goals and an assist in three games -- all wins for the Penguins.
5. (16) San Jose Sharks, 6-3-0
The Sharks have won three in a row, reaffirming that they are the team to beat in the Pacific Division. Last season they were the masters of the road win. This season, they are 4-0 at the Shark Tank. Captain Joe Pavelski is second in the NHL in scoring with 11 points.
6. (4) St. Louis Blues, 5-2-2
The Blues keep rolling along, with points in four of their past six games. St. Louis' offense has gone a bit dry, but it's all about the points. Good on the Blues for retiring the number of Bob Plager, a Day 1 member of the organization. Classy move.
7. (6) Washington Capitals, 5-2-1
Washington's offense hasn't exactly been Capitals-like in the early going, but allowing two goals per game is very much what we expect from Braden Holtby and his crew. And the Caps have won two in a row.
8. (8) New York Rangers, 6-3-0
A nice bounce-back effort from the Rangers, who were dumped by Carolina in Raleigh on Friday night but then whipped Tampa Bay 6-1 two nights later at Madison Square Garden. New York has great balance up front and continues to give little away defensively.
9. (21) New Jersey Devils, 4-2-2
The Devils are quietly making their presence known in the Metropolitan Division, including a big win over Tampa. New Jersey allows two goals per game on average, tied for second fewest in the NHL.
10. (14) Ottawa Senators, 5-3-0
Our thoughts go out to Sens netminder Craig Anderson and his wife, Nicholle, who was recently diagnosed with cancer. Anderson had left the team last Thursday but rejoined the Sens with Nicholle's blessing after Anderson's backup Andrew Hammond was injured -- and pitched a 37-save shutout against Edmonton.
11. (5) Detroit Red Wings, 6-4-0
The Red Wings saw their six-game win streak come to an end on Saturday in a 1-0 loss to Boston and then followed that up with a 5-2 whipping at the hands of the Florida Panthers. It's been feast or famine for the boys from the Motor City.
12. (3) Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-4-0
The Lightning have stumbled on the road, losing to Montreal, New Jersey and then to the Rangers 6-1. As head coach Jon Cooper keeps saying, you can't fall behind every night and have success.
13. (13) Chicago Blackhawks, 5-3-1
Captain Jonathan Toews got his first goal of the season (no, that's not a misprint), and the Blackhawks won their second in a row with a nice 3-0 effort against Los Angeles Sunday. Corey Crawford has been holding the fort as the Blackhawks work out early-season kinks.
14. (11) Colorado Avalanche, 4-3-0
The Avs have played five of seven on the road and have showed resilience in cobbling together a winning record.
15. (17) Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-3-1
The Blue Jackets are showing backbone, rebounding from an 0-2 start. Zach Werenski, 19, has been a revelation on the blue line, with two goals and four assists in seven games.
16.(7) Florida Panthers, 4-4-1
The defending Atlantic Division champions are off to a disappointing start, although they arrested a three-game losing streak on Sunday with an emphatic win over red-hot Detroit.
17. (26) Los Angeles Kings, 4-5-0
The Kings dropped their second in a row and were shut out for the second time in two nights -- this time by Chicago -- as L.A. dropped to 29th in goals scored per game.
18. (22) Buffalo Sabres, 3-3-2
Kyle Okposo led the way as Buffalo came up with back-to-back key victories after a four-game winless stretch.
19. (25) Winnipeg Jets, 4-5-0
The Jets' two-game winning streak ended on Sunday with a disappointing 3-1 home loss to the struggling Sabres. Traction is apparently not in the Jets' handbook.
20. (30) Calgary Flames, 4-5-1
The Flames are still not out of the woods, as their 3-1 loss to Washington at home Sunday reiterated. Calgary is a dismal 2-4-0 at home and is still giving up way too much to opposing teams. It ranks 25th in goals allowed per game, even with improved play from starting goalie Brian Elliott.
21. (18) Dallas Stars, 3-4-1
The defending Central Division champions are banged up, and their offense is sputtering early on, as evidenced by their desultory start to the season.
22. (12) Boston Bruins, 4-4-0
The Bruins came up with huge win over Detroit on Saturday with Tuukka Rask back in the fold, but their offense is in neutral and their power play ranks dead last in the NHL. That needs to change if Boston is going to be anything more than a one-step-up, one-step-back kind of team.
23. (15) Philadelphia Flyers, 4-5-1
The Flyers are giving up almost four goals a game, ranking them 29th, but they keep bouncing back, as they did on Sunday with a nice win over Carolina.
24. (24) Anaheim Ducks, 3-4-2
Anaheim finally has its roster issues resolved with the signing of Hampus Lindholm, although it'll be a week or so before he finally suits up for the up-and-down Ducks. Will it help them finally get on track?
25. (23) New York Islanders, 4-5-0
The Islanders came up with a nice win at home Sunday, but problems still persist. Newcomer Andrew Ladd has just one assist after signing a seven-year deal in the offseason, and now there is controversy over New York's three-goalie conundrum. Is Jaroslav Halak on his way out?
26. (9) Vancouver Canucks, 4-4-1
Water finds its own level as the Canucks have lost four straight after a torrid start. They've been outscored 14-4 during their current slide -- allowing most of the league's prognosticators, who had Vancouver at or near the bottom of league standings -- to heave a sigh of relief.
27. (28) Carolina Hurricanes, 2-4-2
An early, road-heavy schedule has not been kind to the Hurricanes, who were dumped Sunday by Philadelphia and who have yet to win two in a row thus far -- which explains their place at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings.
28. (20) Nashville Predators, 2-5-1
Did we all overestimate just how good the Predators are? It's hard to argue that we didn't, as the Preds are just 0-4-1 on the road, and their offense is in pop-gun mode with just 19 goals in eight games. Nashville is tied for the worst goal differential in the league.
29. (27) Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-4-3
The Leafs -- who got waxed 5-1 by the Islanders Sunday -- are following a familiar pattern of (a) not winning (their two victories are tied for the lowest total in the NHL) and (b) giving up tons of goals (they rank 28th in goals allowed per game).
30. (29) Arizona Coyotes, 2-6-0
The Coyotes, who couldn't build on a rare win over Philadelphia and fell to Colorado on Saturday, are 1-5 on the road and their minus-9 goal differential is tied for the worst in the league with Nashville and Toronto.