Once again there is a change at the top of the NHL Power Rankings. The Central Division remains the dominant group of the four, with the Pacific right behind them.

The bottom five teams seem to have reshuffled themselves back into another arbitrary order, while some teams like New Jersey are suddenly a playoff team and capable of beating anyone. Tampa Bay’s free fall seems to have begun with a brutal west coast road trip on the heels of losing their star Steven Stamkos for three to four months.

It is kind of humorous to see how the league is unfolding even with the Western Conference dominating the top eight spots in the overall standings. I think that the two conferences are certainly closer than the records indicate.

Here’s how the teams fall into place this week.

30. Buffalo Sabres-The Sabres started to look competitive posting a 2-1 record last week. Three consecutive losses put the Sabres back into the bottom of the league.

29. Calgary Flames-The “Battle of Alberta” used to correlate with dominance in the Western Conference/Smythe Division. These days it has everything to do with which rebuilding team won’t finish in last place.

28. Florida Panthers-The Panthers win in Colorado and Vancouver offered a glimpse, albeit fleeting, of what Florida is cooking for the future. A bad loss Thursday in Edmonton brought us back to reality of how bad the Panthers currently are.

27. Edmonton Oilers-Three wins in a row might be cause for optimism, but Edmonton might have dug themselves into the ground a bit too far. It might also be worth noting that the wins came at home against Calgary, Columbus and Florida before the Oilers start sending out playoff ticket plans.

26. Carolina Hurricanes-Four wins in six games over the last two weeks gave hope that the Canes could compete in the woeful Metropolitan Division. However, three straight losses have Carolina one point from last place in the division.

25. Columbus Blue Jackets-The 2013 Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky has certainly not been responsible for the inconsistent play in Columbus. However, his average play is a far cry from the form he showed for the better part of last season.

24. New York Islanders-Still waiting for the “real” New York Islanders to show up. Goaltending has been bad, but Kevin Poulin will be given a shot to take the starting job while Evgeni Nabokov is out with a bad groin. At 28th in the NHL for goals allowed, Poulin can’t be worse, can he?

23. Winnipeg Jets-Just as I was ready to put the Jets among the up-and-comers of the NHL, they go out and lose three straight. The good news is that the Jets are only one point behind Nashville. The bad news is that they are nine points from the final playoff spot.

22. Vancouver Canucks-The Canucks are in a free fall that begs for a John Tortorella meltdown. He has been well behaved so far, but his team has been bad over the last two weeks. With the top four teams in the Central and Pacific staying hot, the Canucks need to get right fast.

21. Ottawa Senators-Maybe Ottawa needs a star player or two to get injured for a couple of months to start winning. Either way, I can’t figure out if this team is any good or not. On paper they should be pushing for the top in the Eastern Conference, but so far, so bad for the Sens. Fortunately for Ottawa, everyone else in the east has been allergic to winning also.

20. Philadelphia Flyers-Could Craig Berube actually be turning around the fortunes for the Flyers? So far it looks like Philadelphia is slowly starting to fix their season. Since their 7-0 home-ice skunking, the Flyers are 6-2-2 and have started to score goals too.

19. Detroit Red Wings- A win over struggling Carolina was made interesting with some obvious and glaring lapses in concentration by the normally disciplined Red Wings. With so much talent on the roster, coach Mike Babcock has to be pulling at his well manicured hair when he sees the mistakes that his team continues to make.

18. Nashville Predators-The success so far this season is a testament to Barry Trotz and his ability to get the most out of his players. The Predators are a dark-horse playoff team in the west, but they are playing solid, competitive hockey without their best player, goaltender Pekka Rinne.

17. Montreal Canadiens-It seems like the Canadiens are slowly playing themselves out of the playoff picture this year. With so much mediocrity in the east, Montreal has to do better than win four out of ten games. Special teams and defense have been lights out for the Canadiens, but they have scored only 35% of their goals at even strength.

16. Dallas Stars-A mid-week setback at home to New York can’t dampen the spirits of the suddenly dangerous Stars. Dallas has scratched and clawed its’ way to relevance in the Central Division with great goaltending and timely scoring. Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn are becoming a formidable 1-2 combination in Big D.

15. Tampa Bay Lightning-Poor Tampa Bay. After one of the best starts in franchise history, the Lightning fell prey to the injury bug and haven’t been the same since. If they can play close to .500 hockey for the next three months, they can possibly be in playoff contention when Stamkos returns from his broken leg.

14. Toronto Maple Leafs-Like Montreal, Toronto seems to be disinterested in winning the important early season games that could hurt them next April. We can all agree that the Leafs are a playoff team, but they need to start playing better for a better seed in the new playoff format.

13. New Jersey Devils-My apologies to the Devils and their fans, but are we ready to hitch our collective wagon to the Jaromir Jagr train? New Jersey is playing harder and hungrier than everyone else in the Metro Division over the past two weeks. It’s a formula that has been historically efficient for the Devils: great goaltending and solid, collective team scoring.

12. New York Rangers-The Rangers welcomed Rick Nash back to the lineup and Henrik Lundqvist could not be happier. The all-world net minder has been standing on his head all season to keep the Rangers in the middle of the standings. With some goal-scoring punch back in the lineup, the Rangers have a chance to compete for the division again.

11. Washington Capitals-The Capitals were streaking up the standings, briefly owning the top spot in the Metro Division before getting spanked by rival Pittsburgh at home. I’m still reluctant to put them among the elite teams because of no-show games like Wednesday night from the Caps and from Alexander Ovechkin.

10. Anaheim Ducks-A five game losing streak could be cause for concern particularly considering that Florida, Carolina and Tampa Bay took three of those victories. The Ducks are still wildly talented and will recover just fine.

9. Pittsburgh Penguins-Big wins over Anaheim and Washington this week were a nice way for Pittsburgh to make a statement. After falling behind Washington briefly in the division standings, the Pens seemed to get their act together and figure out how to score goals again.

8. Los Angeles Kings-My theory on the Kings’ collapse may not come to fruition, but the home loss to New Jersey could be seen as a bad sign. Los Angeles has been red-hot lately though, winning seven of ten with two extra time losses. If the Kings can score two goals a game they will win 90% of the time. Unfortunately, that has been a tall order all season.

7. Boston Bruins-The defending conference champs are looking like the class of the east so far, winning with at least a hint of consistency. They have won six of eight and seem to win the games they are expected to which is crucial in the early months of the season. Great goaltending and team defense will see the Bruins rise in the next few weeks.

6. Phoenix Coyotes-A discouraging home loss to Colorado might be tough to swallow, but Phoenix should bounce back. The Coyotes grinding style makes them a nightmare for opponents and we still haven’t seen the best of goaltender Mike Smith yet.

5. Colorado Avalanche-I may have written them off long-term in yesterday’s article, but Colorado continues to prove me wrong daily. Semyon Varlamov continues to be amazing and the Avs are getting scoring from all four lines. Patrick Roy has to be the early season Jack Adams Award nominee for a job well done in Colorado.

4. Minnesota Wild-If you want a blueprint for success, take a look at what is happening in Minnesota. The Wild don’t lead the league in any particular category but have won eight of ten with amazing goaltending from Josh Harding and production from their entire roster. The Wild seem to have a knack for winning the close games, which will prove to be invaluable come playoff time.

3. Chicago Blackhawks-The Hawks have looked like a Jekyll and Hyde team over their last four games. They gave up seven goals at Nashville, five at Colorado and three at home to Winnipeg Thursday night. If the Hawks have designs on back-to-back titles, they need to tighten things up in the back. It’s not all Corey Crawford’s fault, but he has room for improvement.

2. San Jose Sharks-The Sharks have gotten back to their winning ways and continue their sprint out in front of the Pacific Division with the other top four teams. After a five-game slide the Sharks have won four of five games while the co-leader Anaheim has lost their last five.

1. St. Louis Blues-An impressive road win in Boston is par for the course in St. Louis. They have one regulation loss in the last two weeks and the only reason the Blues aren’t in the top spot in the Central Division is because Chicago has played two more games.