The Good: Canucks lose, Preds lose, Wild half-lose; (and last night) Stars lost, Avs lost.
The Bad: Hawks win, Wings win, Flames win; (and last night) Kings lost, Preds won, Blues won, Yotes won, Sharks won.
Yeah, so?
Only 13 points separate 3rd from 13th. This would be why so many teams think they still have a shot, and why the 3-6 teams would do well not to fall asleep at the wheel, because a losing streak now could kill anyone’s playoff hopes (excluding the Sharks and Hawks, who — as the bottom of the post illustrates — would have to crap out on a level unprecedented in human history in order to drop out of the playoff picture).
Here are the standings*:
- San Jose Sharks 37 (1) +9
- Chicago Blackhawks 37 (2) +9
- Los Angeles Kings 46 (4) —
- Vancouver Canucks 48 (3) -2
- Phoenix Coyotes 49 (5) -3
- Colorado Avalanche 50 (6) -4
- Nashville Predators 53 (7) -7
- Detroit Red Wings 56 (8) -10
- Calgary Flames 57 (9) -11
- Dallas Stars 58 (10) -12
- St. Louis Blues 59 (12) -13
- Minnesota Wild 59 (13) -13
- Anaheim Ducks 59 (11) -13
- Columbus Blue Jackets 67 (14) -21
- Edmonton Oilers 82 (15) -36
And here’s the record** each team needs from here on, to get to the assumed (by me) magical point total of 95:
- San Jose Sharks (18) 2-16-0
- Chicago Blackhawks (18) 2-16-0
- Los Angeles Kings (19) 7-11-1
- Vancouver Canucks (18) 7-10-1
- Phoenix Coyotes (17) 7-10-0
- Colorado Avalanche (18) 8-9-1
- Nashville Predators (18) 10-8-0
- Detroit Red Wings (18) 11-6-1
- Calgary Flames (18) 12-6-0
- Dallas Stars (19) 13-5-1
- St. Louis Blues (19) 13-6-0
- Minnesota Wild (19) 14-5-0
- Anaheim Ducks (19) 14-5-0
- Columbus Blue Jackets (18) 17-1-0
- Edmonton Oilers (18) n/a
*standings in points-blown explained: 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.
**Games-remaining in parentheses.