Last Night’s Results
The Good:
The Bad: ANA won.
Tonight’s Games
STL@LAK — GO KINGS.
CGY@COL — Go Avs.
MIN@SJS — Go…?…Wild, I guess.
BOS@NAS — Go Bruins.
CHI@DAL — Go regulation.
PHX@EDM — Go Oil.
Now, the updated standings:
| Q | NHL | PTS | W% | PRJ | LSF | PB | +/- | TO 96 | GR | W! | SS | SSGR | GD | |
| 1 | 1 | VAN | 103 | 0.7153 | 117.3 | 103 | 41 | 18 | n/a | 10 | 43 | 1 | 1 | 68 |
| 2 | 2 | DET | 92 | 0.6571 | 107.8 | 102 | 48 | 11 | 2-10-0 | 12 | 38 | 3 | LAK | 29 |
| 3 | 3 | SJS | 88 | 0.6197 | 101.6 | 113 | 54 | 5 | 4-7-0 | 11 | 35 | -1 | 2 | 17 |
| 4 | 5 | LAK | 85 | 0.6071 | 99.6 | 101 | 55 | 4 | 5-6-1 | 12 | 33 | n/a | n/a | 26 |
| 5 | 4 | CHI | 84 | 0.6000 | 98.4 | 112 | 56 | 3 | 6-6-0 | 12 | 33 | -8 | CHI | 36 |
| 6 | 6 | PHX | 85 | 0.5986 | 98.2 | 107 | 57 | 2 | 5-5-1 | 11 | 33 | -2 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 | 7 | DAL | 82 | 0.5857 | 96.1 | 88 | 58 | 1 | 7-5-0 | 12 | 32 | 3 | LAK | -3 |
| 8 | 10 | ANA | 81 | 0.5786 | 94.9 | 89 | 59 | 0 | 7-4-1 | 12 | 34 | 2 | 3 | -6 |
| 9 | 9 | NAS | 80 | 0.5714 | 93.7 | 100 | 60 | -1 | 8-4-0 | 12 | 29 | 4 | LAK | 14 |
| 10 | 8 | CGY | 81 | 0.5625 | 92.3 | 90 | 63 | -4 | 7-2-1 | 10 | 29 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 11 | 11 | MIN | 77 | 0.5500 | 90.2 | 84 | 63 | -4 | 9-2-1 | 12 | 33 | 1 | LAK | -10 |
| 12 | 12 | CBJ | 74 | 0.5362 | 87.9 | 79 | 64 | -5 | 11-2-0 | 13 | 28 | 3 | LAK | -19 |
| 13 | 13 | STL | 71 | 0.5071 | 83.2 | 90 | 69 | -10 | n/a | 12 | 27 | -6 | STL | -15 |
| 14 | 14 | COL | 60 | 0.4348 | 71.3 | 95 | 78 | -19 | n/a | 13 | 23 | 6 | LAK | -50 |
| 15 | 15 | EDM | 55 | 0.3929 | 64.4 | 62 | 85 | -26 | n/a | 12 | 21 | 5 | LAK | -59 |
Click on the headers to sort.
KEY: Q is my standings, default sorted by W% then 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 are season series against the Kings (Kings’ points-earned vs. that team’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.
Some observations:
- STL can’t get to 96 points.
- 3rd-9th seed now shows a perfect run of points-blown, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60.
- In official points, LAK, PHX and CHI form one cluster (separated by a point), and a few points beneath them, DAL, ANA, NAS and CGY form another (separated by a point).
- The Kings are one tie-breaker win behind ANA and two behind SJS.
- Of the teams with a reasonable chance of making the playoffs, SJS and PHX have 11 games left. CGY has 10. Everyone else has 12.
- The Kings are 10 goals behind Chicago in GD. A blow-out win or two would be very helpful about now.
- The Ducks could erase the Kings’ lead over them by taking 5 points out of the three remaining head-to-head games.
- Given the way the standings are trending right now, a first round Ducks/Kings series is as likely as anything else. A 3/6 or a 4/5 match-up.
- A win tonight will put the Kings on a pace to equal their point total from last season, which would be a tie for third best in franchise history.