The defending Stanley Cup champions are still wallowing in backup goalie concerns, but the NHL's least experienced team, the upstart Vegas Golden Knights, don't mind one bit.

That's because, when it comes to hockey in Sin City, there's not a whole lot of anything to be concerned about. Las Vegas is where the league's 31st franchise has burst onto the scene not only with historic marks for an expansion team but admirable results for a first-month contender -- a club that's found ways to win in just about every way possible.

The same optimism, at least as of late, has been hard to come by in Pittsburgh, where the reigning title-winning Penguins are fresh off yet another embarrassing defeat, this time at the hands of the Winnipeg Jets.

And all of it, plus plenty of other ups and downs from around the league, is reflected in our latest edition of NHL Power Rankings:

Biggest Movers
14 Canucks
11 Blackhawks
Rk
Teams
  
Chg
Rcrd
1 Lightning The Steven Stamkos-Nikita Kucherov point streak is over, but the Lightning are still outscoring everyone except Toronto. -- 16-9-2
2 Kings There's an argument to be made they deserve No. 1. No one has a better goal differential. Coach John Stevens -- and Jonathan Quick -- are making it work. 2 12-8-7
3 Golden Knights It might be time to stop questioning whether they're for real. They're winning every kind of way even without two goalies. 3 13-6-8
4 Blues The rate at which the Blues are blocking shots might be the secret fuel to this team's streak. 3 9-12-7
5 Devils Now it's Taylor Hall's turn to shine. -- 16-11-1
6 Senators Lots of close games for Ottawa lately, and not all of them have ended well. But the Sens are still scoring plenty. 3 13-10-4
7 Maple Leafs The defensive problems are surfacing, but when you're pacing the NHL in goals scored, you're always going to be in the mix. 4 13-11-3
8 Blue Jackets Bigger than a 4-1 loss to St. Louis was the loss of Cam Atkinson. 2 13-9-5
9 Canucks The real question is whether they can hold a top-10 spot. (Prediction: They can't.) But four straight wins and an Anders Nilsson shutout have them rolling. Imagine if they can land more help at the deadline. 14 10-15-3
10 Flyers The enigmatic up and downs continue. Philly can rock with the best of them, but goaltending remains an issue. 2 15-8-3
11 Islanders If the John Tavares Show isn't selling out, it should be. 6 15-10-3
12 Avalanche Are they the team that lost 7-0 to Vegas or the one that scored five straight vs. Chicago? 2 19-2-6
13 Blackhawks Time for a wake-up call. A big one approaches against Philadelphia. 11 12-9-6
14 Ducks Now we know why the Ducks added Ryan Miller. 11 17-10-1
15 Stars The big names are producing and the penalty kill is much improved. They could stand for some more consistency, though. 3 19-5-5
16 Wild The chants that Devan Dubnyk gets at Xcel are well earned. 6 15-8-5
17 Jets Tough to figure them out right now, but absolutely waxing the defending champs was Grade-A rebound material. 1 14-12-1
18 Flames What a promising -- and much-needed -- team win vs. the Capitals. Mike Smith deserved credit well before it, too. 2 10-15-4
19 Predators Juuse Saros is not Pekka Rinne, in case anyone needed reminded. 8 10-13-4
20 Capitals Getting five unanswered against Edmonton might have been the jump start they needed. 4 17-9-3
21 Penguins Some think the Pens aren't as bad as their record indicates, but their 5-on-5 play has been. Matt Murray should be holding leads, not holding out hope his team can take one. And no one outside of Murray has done anything in their net. 8 14-7-5
22 Red Wings They've got a couple more good chances to stack up wins this week. The Coyotes and Oilers await. 7 14-11-3
23 Sharks Tough sledding ahead. It'd be a shock if they didn't tumble down the rankings by next week. 3 13-13-3
24 Bruins Heartbreak has been a common theme early in Boston's season. -- 16-13-0
25 Hurricanes Jeff Skinner needs some help. 6 16-8-2
26 Panthers Don't look now, but Bob Boughner's unit has an offense that ranks in the top half of the league. 5 12-12-2
27 Rangers One of their few wins recently came against Arizona, and that should tell you everything. 1 15-12-2
28 Oilers Oh, the Oilers are reportedly disappointed with their Jordan Eberle-Ryan Strome trade? So were we, months ago. 1 12-11-5
29 Sabres Hats off to Robin Lehner against Detroit, but Phil Housley is still looking for more from his defensemen. -- 11-13-4
30 Canadiens Somehow, beating the Rangers seems way less significant right now. 1 14-9-3
31 Coyotes The Avalanche of 2017-18? They're still looking for their first victory. 1