Results from Thursday and Friday
The Good: LAK won, MIN lost, NAS lost, STL lost, PHX lost,
The Bad: DAL won, CHI won, CBJ won, SJS won, STL won, MIN won, CGY and ANA got Bettman points.
Tomorrow’s Big Games
NAS @ DAL — these teams are tied, both 2 points behind the Kings. I don’t care who wins, but do it in regulation.
COL @ LAK — GO KINGS.
Sunday’s Big Games
CBJ @ NAS — Mostly, I want to avoid Bettman points, but I would prefer CBJ to drop out of the hunt. Go Preds.
PHX @ CHI — Again, no Bettmans, but I guess I would rather CHI lose (on the principle that it’s better for the team that’s lower in the standings to stay lower).
STL @ CGY — The Blues are only barely hanging on to hope. The Kings need more distance between them and the Flames. Go Blues.
COL @ ANA — Duh. Go Avs.
Monday’s Big Games
CHI @ MIN — No Bettmans.
DET @ LAK — GO KINGS.
Now, the updated standings:
| Q | NHL | PTS | W% | PRJ | PB | +/- | TO 95 | GR | W! | R:W | L | OT:W | L | SO:W | L | |
| 1 | 1 | VAN | 87 | 0.7016 | 115.1 | 37 | 15 | 3-15-2 | 20 | 37 | 35 | 14 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 |
| 2 | 2 | DET | 80 | 0.6557 | 107.5 | 42 | 10 | 6-12-3 | 21 | 34 | 27 | 18 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 | SJS | 78 | 0.6190 | 101.5 | 48 | 4 | 7-9-3 | 19 | 32 | 28 | 21 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| 4 | 5 | LAK | 72 | 0.5902 | 96.8 | 50 | 2 | 10-8-3 | 21 | 27 | 26 | 23 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| 5 | 4 | PHX | 75 | 0.5952 | 97.6 | 51 | 1 | 9-8-2 | 19 | 30 | 28 | 21 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | 6 | MIN | 72 | 0.5806 | 95.2 | 52 | 0 | 10-7-3 | 20 | 31 | 26 | 23 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 7 | 8 | CHI | 70 | 0.5738 | 94.1 | 52 | 0 | 11-7-3 | 21 | 28 | 26 | 23 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| 8 | 9 | DAL | 70 | 0.5738 | 94.1 | 52 | 0 | 11-7-3 | 21 | 27 | 23 | 23 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| 9 | 10 | NAS | 70 | 0.5738 | 94.1 | 52 | 0 | 11-7-3 | 21 | 25 | 25 | 22 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 3 |
| 10 | 12 | CBJ | 68 | 0.5667 | 92.9 | 52 | 0 | 12-7-3 | 22 | 27 | 23 | 23 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| 11 | 7 | CGY | 71 | 0.5635 | 92.4 | 55 | -3 | 11-6-2 | 19 | 25 | 23 | 23 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| 12 | 11 | ANA | 69 | 0.5565 | 91.3 | 55 | -3 | 12-6-2 | 20 | 28 | 25 | 25 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| 13 | 13 | STL | 65 | 0.5328 | 87.4 | 57 | -5 | 14-5-2 | 21 | 25 | 23 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| 14 | 14 | COL | 59 | 0.4836 | 79.3 | 63 | -11 | 17-2-2 | 21 | 23 | 18 | 28 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| 15 | 15 | EDM | 48 | 0.3871 | 63.5 | 76 | -24 | n/a | 20 | 19 | 17 | 34 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
Click on the headers to sort.
KEY: Q is my standings, default sorted by points-blown (explanation of points-blown here). NHL is the official standings, via NHL.COM. PRJ is projected point total for 82 games. PB is points-blown. +/- is the distance in points-blown above or below the 8th seed. TO 95 is the record needed to get to the presumed (by me) playoff-threshold. GR is games-remaining. W! is wins plus OT wins (the first tie-breaker). R, OT and SO are regulation, over-time and shoot-out, and W and L after each indicates wins and losses for each of those three categories (e.g. R:W is regulation wins, OT:W is over-time wins, etc.).
Some observations:
- The Kings are officially in 5th, though points-blown has them in 4th.
- They are six points behind San Jose for 1st in the Pacific. But they are only 2 points-blown behind.
- The only good news re SJS handing out Bettmans tonight, was that they won in a shoot-out, not OT. That means the win does not count in the coming battle of the first tie-breakers.
- Eight official points (but only 4 points-blown) separate 3rd from 10th.
- The Kings have won the season series with MIN.
- Five of the eight games between now and Monday are Round Zero playoff games, with teams fighting for the 3-8 spots going head to head.