Late Tuesday: The Good, the Bad, and What You Want Tomorrow [Results and Real Standings]
Tonight's Results
- The Good: MIN lost, DAL lost, NAS half-lost.
- The Bad: SJS won, in OT.
- The Doesn't Matter: VAN won, EDM won.
Tomorrow's Games
- LAK @ CBJ - er, go Kings!
- MIN @ CHI (on Versus) - when forced to choose between a team we're chasing (or a team we're tied with) and a team that's chasing us, I almost always root for the team that's chasing us to lose. That's Chicago, in this case. I'm torn because I don't really want the Hawks to miss the playoffs, because the playoffs are better with them in it. But I don't want them to make it at the Kings' expense. Go Wild, in regulation!
- DAL @ CGY - I don't really care in this case -- either team losing is delightful -- just no Bettman points please. Go regulation!
- WAS @ ANA - Time for the Caps not to suck. A Kings win and a Ducks loss would drop the Ducks below the Kings in the points-blown standings. Go Caps!/
| Q | OFF. | PTS | W% | PRJ | PB | +/- | to95 | GR | R/OTW | R/OT/SO | |
| 1 | 1 | VAN | 83 | 0.7155 | 117.3 | 33 | 14 | 5-17-2 | 24 | 35 | 33-12/2-4/2-5 |
| 2 | 2 | DET | 74 | 0.6607 | 108.4 | 38 | 9 | 9-14-3 | 26 | 32 | 25-16/7-4/2-2 |
| 3 | 4 | ANA | 68 | 0.5965 | 97.8 | 46 | 1 | 12-10-3 | 25 | 28 | 25-21/3-2/4-2 |
| 4 | 5 | DAL | 68 | 0.5965 | 97.8 | 46 | 1 | 12-10-3 | 25 | 26 | 22-20/4-2/5-4 |
| 5 | 6 | NAS | 68 | 0.5965 | 97.8 | 46 | 1 | 12-10-3 | 25 | 24 | 24-19/0-5/6-3 |
| 6 | 3 | PHX | 69 | 0.5948 | 97.6 | 47 | 0 | 12-10-2 | 24 | 27 | 26-19/1-6/3-3 |
| 7 | 10 | MIN | 65 | 0.5804 | 95.2 | 47 | 0 | 14-10-2 | 26 | 28 | 24-21/4-1/2-4 |
| 8 | 9 | LAK | 65 | 0.5804 | 95.2 | 47 | 0 | 14-10-2 | 26 | 25 | 24-22/1-2/6-1 |
| 9 | 7 | SJS | 68 | 0.5862 | 96.1 | 48 | -1 | 12-9-3 | 24 | 28 | 25-21/3-4/3-2 |
| 10 | 11 | CHI | 62 | 0.5536 | 90.8 | 50 | -3 | 15-8-3 | 26 | 25 | 23-22/2-2/3-4 |
| 11 | 12 | CBJ | 61 | 0.5446 | 89.3 | 51 | -4 | 16-8-2 | 26 | 24 | 20-23/4-3/4-2 |
| 12 | 13 | STL | 59 | 0.5364 | 88.0 | 51 | -4 | 17-8-2 | 27 | 22 | 20-21/2-4/3-5 |
| 13 | 8 | CGY | 66 | 0.5593 | 91.7 | 52 | -5 | 13-7-3 | 23 | 23 | 21-22/2-3/6-5 |
| 14 | 14 | COL | 56 | 0.4912 | 80.6 | 58 | -11 | 18-4-3 | 25 | 22 | 17-26/5-6/3-0 |
| 15 | 15 | EDM | 42 | 0.3684 | 60.4 | 72 | -25 | n/a | 25 | 16 | 14-32/2-1/1-7 |
KEY: Q is my standings, sorted by points-blown (explanation of points-blown here). OFF. is the official (ESPN) standings. PRJ is projected point total for 82 games. PB is points-blown. TO95 is the record needed to get to the presumed (by me) playoff-threshold. GR is games-remaining. R/OTW is wins plus OT wins (the first tie-breaker). R/OT/SO is the team's record broken down into wins-losses in regulation/overtime/shoot-out. So, for example, LAK is 24-22 in regulation, 1-2 in OT and 6-1 in the shoot-out.
Some observations:
- One point now separates 3rd from 8th in the points-blown standings.
- Anaheim, Nashville and Dallas are in a three-way tie for 3rd.
- Phoenix, LA and Minnesota are one point behind, in a three-way tie for 6th.
- Six points (PB) separate 3rd from 13th.
- I'm working on a post predicting the final point-totals and seeds for the Western Conference; I haven't worked out all the details yet, but looking at everyone's schedules, my first impression is that the Ducks and Stars are screwed and, if I had to guess, will be replaced by San Jose and Chicago in the top eight. Something like: (1) VAN, (2) DET, (3) one of LA or PHX, then (4,5,6) the other of LA or PHX and NAS and MIN, in no particular order, then (7,8) SJS and CHI, again in no particular order. Which means, in this extremely preliminary (and written in pencil) prediction, I think the Kings will make the playoffs and open against the Yotes, Preds or Wild. It also means, SJS would play either DET or VAN, and CHI would play the other one, which is pretty cool, match-up-wise.
- You would be right to think it's loopy to try to predict the final standings with almost a third of the season left. However, I did pretty well last year. I'll get my final, specific predictions up after the deadline.
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