NHL Power Rankings Show Capitals Taking Lead in East-Dominated Top 10

Two months are now in the books this season as the calendar turns to December, and several teams took advantage of their busy November slates to bank some key early points and establish themselves as powers to content with this season.

No team did more in the month than Washington, which once again is laying claim to being kings of the regular season with a 10-2-2 mark in November. That's enough to regain the top spot in our NHL Power Rankings, but will it mean anything once the games really matter in the spring?

The Bruins didn't do so well in taking advantage of their heavy November workload, going just 6-6-2 after a strong 6-2-0 October. How many spots did the .500 month cost the Bruins in the Power Rankings? And where will the rest of the league's teams fall this week? Read on to find out.

NHL Power Rankings
1 Last week: No. 3 Record: 18-6-2	Washington Capitals The Caps bounced back from poor week with three division wins, including a 6-0 spanking of Tampa Bay, to finish the month with an impressive 10-2-2 record.
2 Last week: No. 2 Record: 16-4-2	Detroit Red Wings The Wings stay hot, shaking off a 5-1 loss to Atlanta with a sweep of a home-and-home series with Columbus and a win over San Jose.
3 Last week: No. 1 Record: 15-7-4	Philadelphia Flyers The Flyers dropped their last two games in shootouts, but they still have points in five straight to finish November with a 9-2-3 mark in the month.
4 Last week: No. 4 Record: 16-8-2	Pittsburgh Penguins The Pens continued to roll, winning four games this week to stretch their win streak to seven. They've allowed just 10 goals in those seven games and are now 9-0-1 since Boston rallied in the third period for a 7-4 win in Pittsburgh on Nov. 10.
5 Last week: No. 6 Record: 15-8-2	Montreal Canadiens Carey Price continues to impress as he stopped 59 of 61 shots in wins over the Kings and Sabres, but Alex Auld did lose 3-0 to Atlanta in between.
6 Last week: No. 20 Record: 13-9-3	Atlanta Thrashers Maybe Tampa isn't the most improved team in the Southeast after all. Craig Ramsay has the Thrashers playing out of their minds, going 4-0-0 this week to push their win streak to six games.
7 Last week: No. 5 Record: 14-8-3	Tampa Bay Lightning Tampa took points out of three of four games, but needed overtime to top Toronto and a 6-0 loss to the Caps shows the Lightning might not be quite ready to run with the big guns in the East.
8 Last week: No. 22 Record: 14-8-1	Dallas Stars Look who's suddenly leading the Pacific Division, as the Stars soar to first after a 4-0-0 week and a 6-1-1 run in their last eight games.
9 Last week: No. 12 Record: 14-11-2	Chicago Blackhawks The reigning champs are finally starting to come around, rattling off three straight wins after falling to San Jose this week.
10 Last week: No. 7 Record: 13-8-2	Boston Bruins The Bruins rallied in the third for a win in Florida before Thanksgiving, but couldn't dig out of holes against Carolina and Atlanta as they have now won just once in their last five games heading into Wednesday's playoff rematch in Philly.
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