Montreal Canadiens Disappointing Loss Affects Atlantic Division Power Rankings

MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 15: Jeff Petry #26 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL game at the Bell Centre on October 15, 2019 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 15: Jeff Petry #26 of the Montreal Canadiens celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL game at the Bell Centre on October 15, 2019 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. (Photo by Francois Lacasse/NHLI via Getty Images)
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The Montreal Canadiens had an up and down week. They won a pair of games, but had two regulations losses as well. How does it affect them in the latest Atlantic Division Power Rankings?

The Montreal Canadiens are off to an inconsistent start to the 2019-20 season. They started the year with several comebacks and stole points in games they likely should have lost. That is better than losing, but constantly scrambling to gain points in the standings can’t last all season.

It caught up to them with a loss to the struggling Detroit Red Wings in their home opener. Lately, they Canadiens have been able to tighten things up defensively, but are still getting mixed results and are yet to find any sort of consistency from game to game.

Elsewhere in the division, the Buffalo Sabres continue to impress after a trip out west. Eastern conference teams often have a hard time finding success when they travel to California, but the Sabres came away with four points.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are feeling the effects of the injury bug and their poor cap management. The Boston Bruins continue to pick up points against top teams and the Tampa Bay Lightning are hard to figure out.

One thing that wasn’t hard to figure out is the bottom of the division where the Ottawa Senators and Detroit Red Wings will battle for the bottom. The Florida Panthers weren’t very busy but made the most of it going to extra time twice.

There are definitely some early surprises in the Atlantic Division. Let’s see how they currently line up in this week’s edition of the power rankings.