Since last we met (after the Kings/Devils game Sunday) we’ve had two nights of games…
The Good: Kings win, Canucks lose, Wild lose, Preds half-lose, Sharks lose, Wings lose one, Hawks lose.
The Bad: Yotes win, Wings win one, Stars win, Avs win, Ducks win, Blues win, Flames win (!).
So where does that leave us?
Vancouver’s loss drops them to within a point of the Kings. LAK, PHX, COL and VAN are all clustered within 3 points of each other, with LAK and PHX in the middle. Don’t look now, but the Kings are only 3.5 games (7 points blown) back of Chicago. For about the third time all year, the ESPN standings and mine are the same in terms of order.
[explanation of what the hell this is, is at the bottom]
- San Jose Sharks 31 (1) +10
- Chicago Blackhawks 34 (2) +7
- Vancouver Canucks 40 (3) +1
- Phoenix Coyotes 41 (4) 0
- Los Angeles Kings 41 (5) —
- Colorado Avalanche 42 (6) -1
- Nashville Predators 46 (7) -5
- Calgary Flames 50 (8) -9
- Detroit Red Wings 50 (9) -9
- Dallas Stars 51 (10) -10
- Anaheim Ducks 53 (11) -12
- St. Louis Blues 53 (12) -12
- Minnesota Wild 54 (13) -13
- Columbus Blue Jackets 63 (14) -22
- Edmonton Oilers 67 (15) -26
These are standings in points-blown.
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.
Tie breaker is games-played, except that the winner of the tie breaker is the team who has played more games. If this seems counter-intuitive, consider this: A team with a 10-2 record is better than a team with a 2-2 record, who is, in turn better than a team that’s 0-2.