News and Notes: Playoff race at the break

Sunday, February 14, 2010-11:55:pm
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When NHL play wrapped up Sunday the Western Conference playoff race tightened even a little more as the Olympic break began.

Only two points separate 8th place Calgary and 11th place Anaheim. Sitting the middle of those two teams are the Dallas Stars, who thanks to a 3-0-1 record over their last four games, a 6-2-1 mark in their last nine and a 9-4-1 mark over their last games now are in a dead heat for that final playoff spot.

Based on points percentage, the Stars are in eighth place. They are tied with Detroit with an identical 28-21-12 record and those two teams hold a slim lead over Calgary.

The current pace for the final playoff spot in the West is 91 points and is currently being set by the Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Calgary Flames (more below).

Nashville, currently in seventh place, is only two points ahead of the Flames and three ahead of the Stars and Red Wings.

St. Louis and Minnesota, which have 65 and 64 points respectively, are still within striking distance as well.

Looking ahead

Coming out of the break the Stars will have  21 games left - 12 at home and 9 on the road. Their longest homestand is six games and their longest road trip is four.

Here's a brief look at the teams ranked 7th through 13th in the West, where they stand and what they'll be looking at down the stretch.

Category 7. Nashville 8. Calgary 9. Dallas 10. Detroit 11. Anaheim 12. St. Louis 13. Minnesota
Points 71 69 68 68 67 65 64
Wins (1st tiebreaker) 33 30 28 28 30 28 30
Games Remaining 21 20 21 21 20 20 21
Home 12 9 12 12 12 8 10
Road 9 11 9 9 8 12 11
Longest Homestand 3 (twice) 2 6 3 (twice) 7 3 3
Longest Road trip 4 3 4 3 3 6 3
Back-to-backs 4 2 2 2 4 4 3
Record 33-23-5 30-23-9 28-21-12 28-21-12 30-25-7 28-25-9 30-27-4
Home 16-11-2 15-14-3 18-6-5 16-8-5 19-8-2 12-16-5 21-8-2
Away 17-12-3 15-9-6 10-15-7 12-13-7 11-17-5 16-9-4 9-19-2

Points pace race

Here's a look at the points pace race. The current pace for the 8th spot in the West is 91 points and is being set by the Stars, Detroit Red Wings and Calgary Flames.

To maintain their current pace and finish with 91 points the Stars would need to be two games above .500 over their final 21 games. That would be a record of 11-9-1, 10-8-3, 9-7-5, etc. It's the same scenario for Detroit.

For the Flames to hit 91 points, they would need to go 11-9-0, 10-8-2, 9-7-4, etc. over their final 20 games.

It's a slightly bigger challenge for Anaheim, which would have to go 12-8-0, 11-7-2, 10-6-4, etc. over its final 20 games to hit the 91 point mark.

If the pace goes up to 92 or 93 points you can adjust each team's record accordingly.

Here's a look at the teams in the Western Conference playoff race, their points pace and how they've changed over the past week. Teams are ranked with the division leaders getting the top three spots.

Rk Team GP W L OTL PTS PTS% PTS Pace 1 Wk Ago Diff
1 San Jose 62 40 13 9 89 .718 117.8 120.2 -2.4
2 Chicago 61 41 15 5 87 .713 117.0 114.5 +2.5
3 Vancouver 61 37 22 2 76 .623 102.2 103.6 -1.4
4 Los Angeles 61 37 20 4 78 .639 104.8 106.1 -1.3
5 Phoenix 63 37 21 5 79 .627 102.9 104.3 -1.4
6 Colorado 61 35 20 6 76 .623 102.2 100.7 +1.5
7 Nashville 61 33 23 5 71 .582 95.4 95.0 +0.4
8 Dallas 61 28 21 12 68 .557 91.4 89.1 +2.3
9 Detroit 61 28 21 12 68 .557 91.4 90.5 +0.9
10 Calgary 62 30 23 9 69 .556 91.3 93.2 -1.9
11 Anaheim 62 30 25 7 67 .540 88.6 86.3 +2.3
12 Minnesota 61 30 27 4 64 .525 86.1 87.6 -.15
13 St. Louis 62 28 25 9 65 .524 85.9 83.5 +2.4

Stars Notes

  • The Stars assigned LW Francis Wathier to Texas (AHL) on Sunday.
  • The Stars are now off for the Olympic break.
  • The Stars' first formal practice prior to play resuming will be February 26.
  • The Stars' next game is Tuesday March 2, when they host Los Angeles.