The sitting and watching is now done for the Kings. After six days, in which the rest of the West had a chance to catch up, the Kings sit in fifth place in the conference (tied with Nashville, ahead on goal differential). The Kings are four points behind first-place San Jose but just five points ahead of ninth-place Vancouver, which illustrates just what a dogfight the West should be for the rest of the season.
Here’s how the final day of games played out…
Minnesota 3, Edmonton 1: LOSS. The Wild creep within eight points of the Kings, while the Oilers remain 13 points back, in last place.
Chicago 3, Detroit 0: WIN. The Red Wings could have made a real run at the Kings this week, but they stumbled with three losses and remain six points behind. Chicago is four points ahead of the Kings, with still one game in hand.
Dallas 3, Columbus 1: LOSS. The Stars pull into the eighth spot in the West, only four points behind the Kings with an equal number of games.
Phoenix 4, Anaheim 0: LOSS. The Coyotes jumped the Kings for fourth place in the West, although the Kings now have one game in hand over Phoenix and can take the spot back on Saturday.
St. Louis 2, Calgary 1 (SO): LOSS. What’s most amazing about this week is that there was only one overtime/shootout involving a Western Conference team. For that, the Kings can be most grateful. I went back and forth on whether a three-point game would be a tie or loss, but ultimately, any three-point game is a loss for the Kings, I think.
That puts, in my estimation, the final “break record” at 10-12, which isn’t terrible when you consider that the Kings, mostly, were hoping for results that would be considered “upsets.”
If the NHL allows Phoenix to play ANY games outside of that market, it would signal failure.
Amazing run that team is having… I’m such a big fan of Tippet.
He had our PP at tops of the league when he was here… no surprise about the success there.
Tough in the west no doubt.
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The west scares me
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Thanks for keeping track of all the games Rich. It is greatly appreciated as is everything you do for us Kings fans.
I wish you and everyone else on this blog a very Happy Holiday!
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Still disagree with any Chicago win being in any way positive for the Kings at this stage of the season. We are battling for playoff home ice, and while I think the President’s Cup is beyond reach, best in the west should, and I repeat, SHOULD, be our goal.
As for the President’s Cup, the western conference is stronger this year, as shown by the points in the overall standings. The east has a wider disparity between top teams and lower teams; the bad teams in the east are worse than the bad teams in the west. So, due to the emphasis on divisional and conference games over inter-conference games, the good teams in the east will face weaker teams much more often, while the Kings will have to face stronger teams more often. Much easier to be a runaway divisional winner in the east, so far, so the King’s goal should be to win the west and let the division win fall into that. From now on, Chicago needs to lose, as a matter of fact we are hoping for the Red Wings (blasphemy!!!) to make it a closer race and take points from Chicago.
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Bob makes a good point but Player-X makes a good point as well. I’ll take the middle ground and say that the Kings should hope to win the division. If for some reason the Kings must face the ‘Hawks in the first round without home ice, it will be ugly. Bob is right though, we need to just get into the playoffs first.
Merry Christmas
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What happened to the two comments I just responded to?
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Uh oh, comments got wished away into the cornfield…
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Considering the Kings’ record against the Pacific, it could be a lot worse, seeing that Dallas and Phoenix are right there in it now. What is it for LA like 9-1-1 against the Pacific Division? That’s pretty huge.
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Thanks for keeping us updated, Hammer.
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Actually I think the Kings have had an extraordinary run of good luck while they have been off. Wins and losses are not the killers, overtime games are. When both teams in a Western Conference game get points, that’s really bad for the Kings. In the last 6 days only one Western Conference game has gone into OT. That’s an amazing coincidence and just great news for the Kings.
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I disagree with a lot of the win/loss analysis, but I do agree that the virtual lack of overtime games was a positive. Some teams could have earned an extra two or three points with overtime losses, but they didn’t. The Kings are still in a position to contend for the top half of the playoff seeds–something we would not have expected to be considering at the New Year.
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Regardless of the circumstances, anytime the Ducks lose is always a “win”!
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If the extra points awarded for OT losses is the reason for so many tight races, we should just shelve any discussions about a change in how points are awarded. Owners have to be tickled to death that the races are so tight, and that so many teams are in the hunt for the playoffs. Pisses me off, but there i’tis.
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Matt George,One thing you forgot to mention(regarding Tippet)was that our Penalty kill was the envy of the NHL back then.It didn’t tank until we hired Vanboxmere,Which ultimately led to a change in the entire coaching staff.Mark,I think your comments are in Germany and some old guy is eating them and can’t stop himself.
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I think we’re pretty fortunate to come out of this about .500. Plenty of teams had the chance to pull way ahead of us and we’re still sitting pretty good, Now that we have 1/2 our team back, we should be even better.
NO GETTING LAZY GUYS! 100% ALL THE TIME! Just because guys are back doesn’t mean others can ease up. The West is BRUTAL. It’s so lopsided, I almost wish it was the top 16 in the league going to the playoffs instead of the top 8 per division. There would be a lot of playoff hockey in the West this year for sure!
MIKUS CHRISTMAS & A JURAJ NEW YEAR!
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1) make the playoffs (then anything is possible, but it also helps if…)
2) make the playoffs healthy
3) make the playoffs with a hot goalie
4) make the playoffs with as much home-ice as possible
GO KINGS!!!
have a great Christmas everyone!
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