The Oilers beat the Coyotes and the Wild beat the Hawks, and, although the Ducks beat the Jackets, at least they did it in regulation. That’s three losses for three teams the Kings are in a trench war with. And the standings now look like this:
| Q | OFF. | PTS | W% | PRJ | PB | to94 | GP | W | |
| 1 | 1 | VAN | 69 | 0.704 | 115 | 29 | 11-19-3 | 49 | 28 |
| 2 | 2 | DET | 64 | 0.667 | 109 | 32 | 14-17-3 | 48 | 27 |
| 3 | 3 | DAL | 63 | 0.643 | 105 | 35 | 14-16-3 | 49 | 25 |
| 4 | 4 | NAS | 60 | 0.612 | 100 | 38 | 16-14-3 | 49 | 21 |
| 5 | 7 | COL | 56 | 0.571 | 94 | 42 | 18-12-3 | 49 | 22 |
| 6 | 6 | PHX | 57 | 0.570 | 93 | 43 | 17-12-3 | 50 | 22 |
| 7 | 9 | MIN | 55 | 0.561 | 92 | 43 | 18-12-3 | 49 | 25 |
| 8 | 10 | SJS | 55 | 0.561 | 92 | 43 | 18-12-3 | 49 | 22 |
| 9 | 5 | ANA | 60 | 0.577 | 95 | 44 | 16-11-3 | 52 | 24 |
| 10 | 8 | CHI | 56 | 0.560 | 92 | 44 | 18-11-3 | 50 | 23 |
| 11 | 11 | LAK | 53 | 0.541 | 89 | 45 | 19-11-3 | 49 | 22 |
| 12 | 13 | STL | 51 | 0.531 | 87 | 45 | 20-11-3 | 48 | 19 |
| 13 | 14 | CBJ | 51 | 0.520 | 85 | 47 | 20-10-3 | 49 | 19 |
| 14 | 12 | CGY | 52 | 0.520 | 85 | 48 | 20-9-3 | 50 | 18 |
| 15 | 15 | EDM | 38 | 0.396 | 65 | 58 | 27-4-3 | 48 | 14 |
Ignore the fact that the Kings currently sit in 11th place. Focus on this: there are seven teams in the blue box ahead of the Kings. Four of them can only afford 12 losses and 3 OTSOLs if they want to get to 94, and three (four if you count the Kings) can only afford 11 losses and 3 OTSOLs. That’s a total of eight teams separated by 5 points (ESPN standings) 2 points-blown (my standings) or one measly (budgeted, future) loss.
In other words, it’s tight. All the Kings have to do is keep playing like they deserve to be in the playoffs, and — voila — they will be in the playoffs. And if they don’t play like it, they don’t deserve it anyway.