The Good: (Saturday) Hawks lose, Sharks half-lose; (Sunday) Hawks half-lose, Stars lose, Blues lose, Sharks lose, Flames lose.
The Bad: (Saturday) Wings win, Yotes win, Canucks win, Blues win; (Sunday) Kings lose, Preds win, Avs win, Yotes win, Wild wins, Ducks win, Canucks win.
Which means…
As has been the case for awhile, 4 points separate 3rd from 6th. Nashville, Calgary and Detroit are now clustered together with 2 points separating them. St. Louis, Minnesota, Dallas and Anaheim are the long-shot cluster, and the odds are getting longer every day for Dallas and Anaheim; St. Louis and Minnesota are trending up, and would have to continue to do so for the next 14-15 games if they want to pass Nashville, Calgary or Detroit in the fight for 7 and 8.Here are the standings* (if you haven’t seen my version of standings before, scroll to the bottom for the explanation):
- San Jose Sharks 40 (1) +11
- Chicago Blackhawks 42 (2) +9
- Vancouver Canucks 49 (3) +2
- Phoenix Coyotes 49 (4) +2
- Los Angeles Kings 51 (5) —
- Colorado Avalanche 52 (6) -1
- Nashville Predators 57 (7) -6
- Detroit Red Wings 58 (8) -7
- Calgary Flames 59 (9) -8
- St. Louis Blues 63 (10) -12
- Minnesota Wild 64 (11) -13
- Dallas Stars 65 (12) -15
- Anaheim Ducks 66 (13) -15
- Columbus Blue Jackets 73 (14) -22
- Edmonton Oilers 87 (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 0-13-1
- Chicago Blackhawks 0-12-1
- Phoenix Coyotes 3-10-0
- Vancouver Canucks 3-10-0
- Los Angeles Kings 5-9-0
- Colorado Avalanche 5-8-1
- Nashville Predators 7-6-0
- Detroit Red Wings 8-5-1
- Calgary Flames 9-5-0
- St. Louis Blues 11-3-0
- Minnesota Wild 11-2-1
- Dallas Stars 12-2-0
- Anaheim Ducks 12-1-1
- Columbus Blue Jackets
- Edmonton Oilers
*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.