Points-blown refers to the number of points a team has frittered away by losing or “half-losing” (OTL/SOLs). The official standings don’t take games-in-hand into consideration; and organizing by winning percentage — while precise — is frankly hard (at least for me) to conceptualize when comparing two teams’ percentages. I don’t know how far a team with a win% of .478 is behind a team with a .540. I have to look at the losses and OTL/SOLs. Then I can see it.
Also, it bugs me that, in the “official” standings, an OTL/SOL can cause a team to rise in the standings, when in reality, it causes the team’s record to be worse. In points-blown standings, an OTL/SOL can only cause a team to fall in the standings, which is as it should be.
Two points “awarded” for every loss, one point for every OTL/SOL. Lowest point total is best. Number in parentheses is the official standings (via ESPN). Last number (+/-) is number of points (in my system) ahead or behind Los Angeles. Because it’s a Kings-centric universe.
So, tonight’s games…
The Good: Blues lost, Coyotes lost, Predators lost, Wild lost, Flames* lost.
The Bad: Stars won.
The Bad but less relevant: The Sharks*, Avs and Jackets won.
(*I’m going to go out on a limb and call the Sharks/Flames game. Sharks are up 7-0 in the middle of the 3rd.)
Kings are two points from 4th, two points from 9th.
-
Chicago 26 (1) +13
-
San Jose 28 (2) +11
-
Colorado 36 (3) +3
-
Nashville 37 (4) +2
-
Vancouver 38 (6) +1
-
Phoenix 39 (5) 0
-
Los Angeles 39 (8) —
-
Detroit 40 (9) -1
-
Calgary 42 (7) -3
-
Dallas 45 (10) -6
-
Anaheim 47 (11) -8
-
St. Louis 47 (13) -8
-
Minnesota 49 (12) -10
-
Columbus 55 (14) -16
-
Edmonton 59 (15) -20
Tie breaker is games-played, except that the winner of the tie breaker is the team who has played more games. If this seems counter-intuitive, consider this: A team with a 10-2 record is better than a team with a 2-2 record, who is, in turn better than a team that’s 0-2.