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, 8-0-1The 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 Webers four goals have been game winners. Never mind the Norris Trophy -- Weber for MVP, anyone?2. (2) Edmonton Oilers, 7-2-0The 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 leagues top scorer, and the Oilers have the Western Conferences second-best goal differential, at plus-10.3. (19)?Minnesota Wild, 6-2-1The 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 leagues 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, 6-2-1I 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, 6-3-0The 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, 5-2-2The Blues keep rolling along, with points in four of their past six games. St. Louis offense has gone a bit dry, but its 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, 5-2-1Washingtons offense hasnt 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, 6-3-0A 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, 4-2-2The 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, 5-3-0Our 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 Nicholles blessing after Andersons backup Andrew Hammond was injured --?and pitched a 37-save shutout against Edmonton.11. (5) Detroit Red Wings, 6-4-0The 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. Its been feast or famine for the boys from the Motor City.12. (3) Tampa Bay Lightning, 5-4-0The 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 cant fall behind every night and have success.13. (13) Chicago Blackhawks, 5-3-1Captain Jonathan Toews got his first goal of the season (no, thats 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, 4-3-0The Avs have played five of seven on the road and have showed resilience in cobbling together a winning record.15. (17) Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-3-1The 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, 4-4-1The 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, 4-5-0The 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, 3-3-2Kyle Okposo led the way as Buffalo came up with back-to-back key victories after a four-game winless stretch.19. (25) Winnipeg Jets, 4-5-0The 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, 4-5-1The 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, 3-4-1The 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, 4-4-0The 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, 4-5-1The 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, 3-4-2Anaheim finally has its roster issues resolved with the signing of Hampus Lindholm, although itll 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, 4-5-0The 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 Yorks three-goalie conundrum. Is Jaroslav Halak?on his way out?26. (9) Vancouver Canucks, 4-4-1Water finds its own level as the Canucks have lost four straight after a torrid start. Theyve been outscored 14-4 during their current slide -- allowing most of the leagues prognosticators, who had Vancouver at or near the bottom of league standings -- to heave a sigh of relief.27. (28) Carolina Hurricanes, 2-4-2An 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, 2-5-1Did we all overestimate just how good the Predators are? Its hard to argue that we didnt, 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, 2-4-3The 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, 2-6-0The Coyotes, who couldnt 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. Nike Air Force Ones Sale . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break. Nike Air Force 1 Clearance Australia . Sgt. Eric ONeal says most of the arrests at Monday nights game were for public drunkenness, though one person was taken into custody on suspicion of trying to steal a seat from the stadium. http://www.cheapnikeairforce1australia.com/ .J. -- New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his left knee. Nike Air Force 1 Clearance . 9. Price, heading to the 2014 Olympics for Canada, was named the First Star after posting wins in three starts with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .971 save percentage. Nike Air Force 1 Australia Cheap . To the surprise of many, it isnt the Wolverines but their in-state rivals the Michigan State Spartans. The first Saturday of the college football season was a big day for the little guys.Three Football Championship Subdivision programs knocked off Power 5 teams. Richmond trounced Virginia 37-20, Northern Iowa beat Iowa State 25-20 and Eastern Washington defeated Washington State 45-42.This was a huge win, said Richmond coach Danny Rocco, a former Virginia assistant. We throw these words around like FBS and BCS. There is a huge difference. When you are playing a BCS or Power 5 programs, thats a whole new ballgame. To step up and play like that and get a result like this speaks an awful lot about our program, staff, and student-athletes.A total of four FCS teams beat FBS programs this week. Albany defeated Mid-American Conference program Buffalo 22-16 on Friday.The results shouldnt have come as that much of a surprise.Richmond, which reached the FCS semifinals last season, is 4-5 against Atlantic Coast Conference teams since 2006 with wins against Duke in 2006, 2009 and 2011.Northern Iowa now is 3-3 against Iowa State since 2007. The Panthers previously beat Iowa State 24-13 in 2007 and 28-20 in 2013..ddddddddddddEastern Washington beat a 25th-ranked Oregon State team in 2013. This marked the second straight year in which Washington State opened by losing to an FCS team, as the Cougars fell 24-17 to Portland State last year.Richmond had an easy time Saturday, as Kyle Lauletta threw for 337 yards and three touchdowns to spoil Bronco Mendenhalls debut as Virginias coach.In the Northern Iowa game, JVeyon Browning had a 1-yard touchdown run to put the Panthers ahead for good with 2:49 left. Aaron Bailey threw for 135 yards and ran for 114 yards.Eastern Washingtons Gage Gubrud threw for 474 yards and five touchdowns, also rushing for 77 yards and a score against Washington State. Cooper Kupp caught 12 passes for 206 yards and three touchdowns.These three schools didnt have the only noteworthy performances by FCS teams.South Dakota State played No. 13 TCU tough all night and trailed 45-41 early in the fourth quarter before the Horned Frogs pulled away for a 59-41 victory. ' ' '