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Photofinish in the West

I’m away from my spreadsheets today but I wanted to get the conversation going regarding the Kings‘ playoff chances and the general playoff picture in the West. Bullets:

  • The Kings are in 11th place in the official standings. Oh no!
  • I have them in 9th in terms of blown-points.
  • The Kings have two games in hand on Colorado.
  • The Avalanche are ahead of the Kings in the standings, but behind them in W%.
  • The Kings have one game in hand on Phoenix and Chicago.
  • San Jose has a game in hand on the Kings.
  • Dallas, Phoenix, Colorado, Chicago, Los Angeles, Calgary and San Jose are separated by five points.
  • Four of those seven teams will make the playoffs.
  • It’s starting to look like it will take 94 points to make the playoffs, not 93. At least, it takes 94 points for the Kings to make the playoffs 90+% of the time in sportsclubstat’s 10,000,000 simulations.
  • Anaheim and Minnesota are done. Unless you think they will not lose a game the rest of the season. Ha ha ha.
  • Of the seven teams, everyone but Chicago and Dallas has 26-29 ROWs (regulation or OT wins). The Kings will not catch Chicago or Dallas in ROWs, but need to catch the others, since ROWs are the first tie-breaker and it’s very likely the Kings will end up tied with someone.
  • Sadly, the Kings won the season series against both Chicago and Dallas. It’s sad because season series is the second tie-breaker, and the Kings lose the first tie-breaker (ROWs) against both those teams.
  • The Kings won the SS against PHX, and lost to COL. So the Kings can afford to tie PHX in ROWs, but must beat COL in ROWs (since they will lose the SS tie-breaker to COL if it gets that far).
  • The Kings are currently two ROWs behind both those teams.
  • Tonight’s games, in addition to LAK/DET, include DAL/MIN (go Wild), STL/CHI (go Blues), SJS/CGY (go regulation).
  • Tomorrow’s schedule has COL/BUF, DAL/WPG, PHX/VAN (and DET/ANA, but the Ducks are done).
  • The Red Wings, Canucks, Blues, Predators, Oilers, Blue Jackets and Wild are our friends now. Except when we play them obviously. The Ducks are also probably our friends, but they can never be our friends.
  • Put together a little streak here and the Kings could be 3rd in the conference by Saturday night.

Talking Points