Okay, now that the Kings 8 day winter break is all but over, and all of our rivals have played their games while we were drinking egg nog, let’s look at how the Kings did in terms of points blown. As usual, teams are awarded two points for a loss and one point for an OT/SOL. Lowest point total is best. Today’s chart reflects only the games played while the Kings slept. The Kings are in first place, as they would have to be, since, having played no games, they could blow no points.
The way to interpret the chart is to note how many points each of our division rivals have squandered while we were away. This tells you how much our relative positions have changed. For example, San Jose was perfect (two wins) over the “break.” So their change relative to the Kings is zero. Teams at the bottom (DET, CBJ and EDM) saw their positions relative to the Kings get considerably worse.
- Kings 0
- San Jose 0
- St Louis 2
- Phoenix 2
- Vancouver 2
- Dallas 2
- Chicago 2
- Colorado 2
- Nashville 2
- Anaheim 2
- Calgary 3
- Minnesota 4
- Detroit 6
- Columbus 6
- Edmonton 6
It’s worth taking a look at how the games in hand situation has changed during the “break.” Last Thursday, I believe the spread was four games (between the team having played the most and the least), with the Kings second only to Colorado in games played. Now the spread is three games (one fewer). And the Kings are closer to the bottom. Which is good. Because it means only three teams have games in hand on the Kings. Specifically:
Colorado — 39 games played
Phoenix, Columbus — 38
Kings, and everyone else not mentioned (9 teams in all) — 37
Chicago, St Louis, Calgary — 36