Tonight’s Results
The Good: SJS lost, MIN lost.
The Bad: CHI won.
Tomorrow’s Big Games (Kings-wise)
LAK @ NAS — LA is 3 points up on the Preds. This is a good chance to help them along in their descent. GO KINGS.
SJS @ DAL — Either way. Just end it in regulation.
PHX @ CGY — ditto.
Now, the updated standings:
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 (ESPN has the tie-breakers wrong). PRJ is projected point total for 82 games. LSF is last season’s final point total. PB is points-blown. +/- is the distance in points-blown above or below the 8th seed. TO 96 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). SS and SSGR indicate season series results against the Kings (Kings’ points-earned vs. opponent’s points-earned) and games remaining (team name in the SSGR column means that team has won the season series). 2 points for a Kings win, 1 for an OT or SO win, -1 for an OT or SO loss, -2 for a loss. GD is goal–differential.
Oh, and I should point out, out of an overabundance of caution, I raised the playoff threshold to 96 points. According to Sportsclubstats, in their 100,000,000 simulations, 96 points gets the Kings into the playoffs between 98 and 99% of the time (depending on how many loser points are involved). 95 points still has the Kings above 90%, but several other teams are now looking at 96 points to break the 90% threshold. Thus, the change.
| Q | NHL | PTS | W% | PRJ | LSF | PB | +/- | TO 96 | GR | W! | SS | SSGR | GD | |
| 1 | 1 | VAN | 101 | 0.7113 | 116.6 | 103 | 41 | 17 | n/a | 11 | 42 | 1 | 1 | 64 |
| 2 | 2 | DET | 90 | 0.6522 | 107.0 | 102 | 48 | 10 | 3-10-0 | 13 | 37 | 3 | LAK | 28 |
| 3 | 3 | SJS | 86 | 0.6143 | 100.7 | 113 | 54 | 4 | 5-7-0 | 12 | 34 | -1 | 2 | 14 |
| 4 | 5 | LAK | 83 | 0.6014 | 98.6 | 101 | 55 | 3 | 6-6-1 | 13 | 32 | n/a | n/a | 24 |
| 5 | 4 | CHI | 84 | 0.6000 | 98.4 | 112 | 56 | 2 | 6-6-0 | 12 | 33 | -8 | CHI | 36 |
| 6 | 7 | DAL | 82 | 0.5942 | 97.4 | 88 | 56 | 2 | 7-6-0 | 13 | 32 | 3 | LAK | 0 |
| 7 | 6 | PHX | 83 | 0.5929 | 97.2 | 107 | 57 | 1 | 6-5-1 | 12 | 32 | -2 | 1 | 2 |
| 8 | 9 | NAS | 80 | 0.5797 | 95.1 | 100 | 58 | 0 | 8-5-0 | 13 | 29 | 2 | 1 | 16 |
| 9 | 10 | ANA | 79 | 0.5725 | 93.9 | 89 | 59 | -1 | 8-4-1 | 13 | 33 | 2 | 3 | -7 |
| 10 | 8 | CGY | 81 | 0.5704 | 93.5 | 90 | 61 | -3 | 7-3-1 | 11 | 29 | 1 | 1 | 11 |
| 11 | 11 | MIN | 77 | 0.5500 | 90.2 | 84 | 63 | -5 | 9-2-1 | 12 | 33 | 1 | LAK | -8 |
| 12 | 12 | CBJ | 73 | 0.5368 | 88.0 | 79 | 63 | -5 | 11-2-1 | 14 | 28 | 3 | LAK | -18 |
| 13 | 13 | STL | 71 | 0.5145 | 84.4 | 90 | 67 | -9 | 12-0-1 | 13 | 27 | -6 | STL | -14 |
| 14 | 14 | COL | 60 | 0.4412 | 72.4 | 95 | 76 | -18 | n/a | 14 | 23 | 6 | LAK | -48 |
| 15 | 15 | EDM | 55 | 0.3929 | 64.4 | 62 | 85 | -27 | n/a | 12 | 21 | 5 | LAK | -59 |
Some observations:
- I dropped MIN into the red, designating them as essentially out of the race (though mathematically there’s still a chance; all they have to do is going 9-2-1).
- SJS dropped into the blue, as they seem determined to keep it interesting. The Kings have two games left with the Sharks.
- LAK is 3 points behind SJS, but only one measly point-blown back.
- Wait, do we even want home ice advantage in the playoffs?