The Leafs and Lightning are flying, but my goodness, the Canadiens are a disaster. In the middle of the pack, the Bruins are surviving despite injuries, the Sens are continuing to baffle everyone, and the Red Wings are predictably falling apart. Will the Atlantic Division slide back to what trusted Sportsbooks like Bookmaker predicted heading into the season? 

After a season in which virtually everything went wrong, everything has gone right for the Tampa Bay Lightning so far in 2017-18. They’re 7-1-1 and are scoring at a ridiculous pace with Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos leading the way with nearly two points-per-game. Another positive has been Andrei Vasilevskiy, who’s playing like a true No. 1 goaltender thus far.

And it isn’t like they’re just hammering trash teams either. They’ve beaten St. Louis, Washington, Columbus, and last week, they curb stomped Pittsburgh, hammering them 7-1. It was expected that if the Lightning could stay healthy, they would push to be the top team in the division, and so far, they’ve lived up to the hype.

The Maple Leafs had an interesting week, posting an impressive 2-0 shutout over the Capitals and a 6-3 win over the Red Wings. But on the weekend, they fell victim to The System. The Leafs got dropped by the Sens 6-3 as they weren’t able to get offence going for a good chunk of the game around Ottawa’s trap. Frederik Andersen also had a rough game and now owns a .891 save percentage for the season.

The Leafs’ response? Sign Roman Polak. According to Mike Babcock, the team’s blueline isn’t big or tough enough, so the team inked the rugged veteran defender to a one-year deal. Things have been going well in Leafs land so far this year, but this signing is certainly bound to get the fanbase riled up.

The Ottawa Senators are dead last in the NHL in shot attempt differential at even strength, but despite that, they’ve only lost one game in regulation. The Sens are 4-1-3 for the season and are massively over-performing their peripherals, but as we saw in the playoffs last year, they aren’t a conventional team.

Oddly enough, Erik Karlsson returned from injury last week and the Sens are 1-1-1 with him in the lineup. Still, through three games, Karlsson already has six points and he obviously plays a big role in helping the team. Expect their shot numbers to improve now that their franchise playmaker is back on the ice.

It seems the wheels are falling off the Red Wings. After their inexplicably hot start, Detroit dropped four games last week, including a 4-1 thrashing from the Vancouver Canucks. They’re 4-4-1 and are quickly falling down the standings, as we expected.

But in better news, the Wings finally got Andreas Athanasiou signed to a one-year deal, ending a frustrating holdout with a player that should be a big part of their future. In order to make room financially, the Wings sent Riley Sheahan to the Penguins to clear cap space.

The Bruins got Patrice Bergeron back last week, which is huge. Through two games, Bergeron is doing his thing, already posting four points and a ridiculous +20 Corsi For relative to his teammates. In worse news, though, the Bruins also lost Tuukka Rask last week, as the team’s starting goaltender suffered a concussion and will be sidelined until possibly Saturday.

Despite the injuries to start the season, the Bruins are still 3-3-1 and boast decent underlying numbers. So long as they can stay above water until they’re fully healthy, the Bruins will be fine.

The Florida Panthers are playing pretty much exactly how you’d expect them to. They’re 3-4-0 through seven games, though to be fair to them, the Panthers have had a very difficult schedule easy on. In those first seven games, they’ve already played Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh twice and Washington and St. Louis once.

Last week, they were dealt an unfortunate blow as Roberto Luongo was put on the injured reserve with a thumb injury. That said, James Reimer has been the better of the two goalies so far, as Luongo owns a .905 save percentage through four starts.

The Buffalo Sabres had a good week. I mean, by their standards they had a good week. The Sabres went 1-1-1, nearly pulling off a big comeback against Vegas but losing in overtime, losing to the Canucks, and beating the Bruins pretty handily. After their terrible start, things have looked better for the Sabres, which is expected for a team with a new coach. But still, bleh.

If the inexplicably-successful-but-bad-yet-endearing Golden Knights have been the NHL’s nicest surprise thus far, the Montreal Canadiens have certainly been the most puzzling shock. I mean, after the off-season they had, there was reason to be skeptical that this team was a contender, but nobody saw them imploding like this.

Through eight games, the Habs have only won once. They have solid shot attempt numbers, but they can’t score, which is worrying because of their roster composition. But they also can’t keep the puck out of their net, which, again because of their roster composition, is a surprise. With Carey Price and a supposedly great shutdown blueline, the Habs were supposed to be impossible to score against. But last week, they got drilled by the Ducks and Kings on their West Coast Best Coast swing by a combined score of 11-3.

It’s probably all Alex Galchenyuk’s fault. Maybe he can turn things around on the fourth line. You certainly wouldn’t want to use him as a centre, or anything.