Standings watch: Stating the obvious

Needless to say it but I'll say it anyway: the standings are tight. The Stars lost last night and both Edmonton and Columbus gained ground with wins and the Kings picked up a point in a shootout loss to the Oilers. The Ducks and Canucks both both play at home tonight and have a chance to pull ahead of the Stars. All that games in hand stuff has started to even out. The Ducks have played a few more, but even that number has dropped.

Yesterday's games in West:

Chicago 6, Dallas 2
Edmonton 3, Los Angeles 2 (SO)
Columbus 5, Carolina 1
Nashville 3, Boston 2 (SO)
Ottawa 5, Minnesota 3
Calgary 7, Phoenix 5

Here are the regular standings. Six teams ranked fifth through tenth separated by two points. It's just five points if you go down to 12th place Los Angeles and the Kings have at least one game in hand on everybody at this point. To stay in the race the Kings are gong to have to play very well on the road, where they play 19 of their final 28 games. Phoenix and St. Louis are going to have to go on great runs to make the playoffs at this point. The Coyotes, for example, would need to go something like 17-7-1 over their final 25 games to hit 90 points, which seems to be the pace to be in competition for a playoff spot. The Blues would need 18-8-1 or some other combination that puts them 10 games over .500 over their final 27 games. Colorado is almost out of hit at this point.

RK	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	Sunday
1	San Jose	53	37	7	9	83	at New Jersey
2	Detroit	56	37	12	7	81	vs. Colorado
3	Calgary	56	33	18	5	71	idle
4	Chicago	54	31	15	8	70	idle
5	Dallas	55	27	21	7	61	idle
6	Columbus	56	28	23	5	61	idle
7	Anaheim	57	28	24	5	61	vs. Atlanta
8	Edmonton	55	28	23	4	60	idle
9	Vancouver	55	26	21	8	60	vs. Montreal
10	Minnesota	55	28	24	3	59	idle
11	Nashville	56	27	26	3	57	idle
12	Los Angeles	54	24	22	8	56	idle
13	Phoenix	57	25	27	5	55	idle
14	St. Louis	55	23	25	7	53	idle
15	Colorado	56	25	30	1	51	at Detroit

Here are the points percentage standings. The Stars are still in fifth in that respect too, but it is just as tight as the regular standings. If the Canucks win tonight they would be in basically a tie with the Stars in points percentage.

RK	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	PTS	PTS%
1	San Jose	53	37	7	9	83	.783
2	Detroit	56	37	12	7	81	.723
3	Calgary	56	33	18	5	71	.634
4	Chicago	54	31	15	8	70	.648
5	Dallas	55	27	21	7	61	.555
6	Vancouver	55	26	21	8	60	.545
7	Edmonton	55	28	23	4	60	.545
8	Columbus	56	28	23	5	61	.545
9	Minnesota	55	28	24	3	59	.536
10	Anaheim	57	28	24	5	61	.535
11	Los Angeles	54	24	22	8	56	.519
12	Nashville	56	27	26	3	57	.509
13	Phoenix	57	25	27	5	55	.482
14	St. Louis	55	23	25	7	53	.482
15	Colorado	56	25	30	1	51	.455

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