Today’s Results
The Good: LAK won, NAS lost.
The Bad: DAL won.
Sunday’s Big Games
CBJ @ NAS — No Bettmans.
PHX @ CHI — No Bettmans.
STL @ CGY — No Bettmans. Go Blues, I guess.
COL @ ANA — Duh. Go Avs.
Monday’s Big Games
CHI @ MIN — No Bettmans.
DET @ LAK — GO KINGS.
Now, the updated standings:
| Q | NHL | PTS | W% | PRJ | PB | +/- | TO 95 | GR | W! | R:W | L | OT:W | L | SO:W | L | |
| 1 | 1 | VAN | 87 | 0.6905 | 113.2 | 39 | 13 | 3-14-2 | 19 | 37 | 35 | 15 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 |
| 2 | 2 | DET | 82 | 0.6613 | 108.5 | 42 | 10 | 5-12-3 | 20 | 34 | 27 | 18 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 | SJS | 78 | 0.6190 | 101.5 | 48 | 4 | 7-9-3 | 19 | 32 | 28 | 21 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
| 4 | 5 | LAK | 74 | 0.5968 | 97.9 | 50 | 2 | 9-8-3 | 20 | 28 | 27 | 23 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| 5 | 4 | PHX | 75 | 0.5952 | 97.6 | 51 | 1 | 9-8-2 | 19 | 30 | 28 | 21 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| 6 | 6 | MIN | 72 | 0.5806 | 95.2 | 52 | 0 | 10-7-3 | 20 | 31 | 26 | 23 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 7 | 7 | DAL | 72 | 0.5806 | 95.2 | 52 | 0 | 10-7-3 | 20 | 28 | 24 | 23 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 |
| 8 | 9 | CHI | 70 | 0.5738 | 94.1 | 52 | 0 | 11-7-3 | 21 | 28 | 26 | 23 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| 9 | 12 | CBJ | 68 | 0.5667 | 92.9 | 52 | 0 | 12-7-3 | 22 | 27 | 23 | 23 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| 10 | 10 | NAS | 70 | 0.5645 | 92.6 | 54 | -2 | 11-6-3 | 20 | 25 | 25 | 23 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 3 |
| 11 | 8 | CGY | 71 | 0.5635 | 92.4 | 55 | -3 | 11-6-2 | 19 | 25 | 23 | 23 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 6 |
| 12 | 11 | ANA | 69 | 0.5565 | 91.3 | 55 | -3 | 12-6-2 | 20 | 28 | 25 | 25 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 |
| 13 | 13 | STL | 65 | 0.5328 | 87.4 | 57 | -5 | 14-5-2 | 21 | 25 | 23 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 5 |
| 14 | 14 | COL | 59 | 0.4758 | 78.0 | 65 | -13 | 17-1-2 | 20 | 23 | 18 | 29 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 0 |
| 15 | 15 | EDM | 48 | 0.3871 | 63.5 | 76 | -24 | n/a | 20 | 19 | 17 | 34 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
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. PRJ is projected point total for 82 games. PB is points-blown. +/- is the distance in points-blown above or below the 8th seed. TO 95 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). R, OT and SO are regulation, over-time and shoot-out, and W and L after each indicates wins and losses for each of those three categories (e.g. R:W is regulation wins, OT:W is over-time wins, etc.).
Some observations:
- First of all, I didn’t even know the Kings game was a day game. But it was nice to come home to a victory.
- Five really important games between now and when the Kings play the Wings tomorrow.
- I guess the Stars don’t want to lose Brad Richards. They’re still hanging around 7th.
- Their schedule still dooms them, though, in my opinion.
- ANA, NAS, CGY and STL are all in the “nails in the coffin” zone. And they all play today. If only STL and CGY could both lose.
- Four points-blown separate 3rd from 9th. Although that’s tight, it’s the least tight it’s been in awhile. Starting to see the slightest amount of gap between the two groups (3-9 and 10-13).
- The Kings are only
sixeight points-blown behind the Wings. Makes the game tomorrow even more interesting. - Vancouver has very quietly gone 5-5-0 in its last ten games. I wonder if they’re getting ready for a big pre-playoff slump like the Kings pulled last year.