Kings, Sharks down to the wire

Just as many predicted in the summer, the Kings and the San Jose Sharks are battling for playoff position. Well, maybe not exactly as predicted… Most would have assumed that if the Kings and Sharks were tied in points in the standings, as they are at this moment, they would have been fighting for second or third place in the conference, for the Pacific Division title. Instead, right now they are both trying to get to the eighth spot. The list of reasons, as to why the Sharks are in ninth and the Kings are in 10th, is long and murky, but the reality is clear: the teams play three times among their final 10 games, and it’s plausible to think that the three game mini-series might determine who makes the playoffs and who misses the playoffs. That would have been an astonishing thought in September. Darryl Sutter today was asked whether he was surprised to see the Kings and Sharks in this situation…

SUTTER: “No, not really. Everybody does — we all do — our own little speculations in the summer. It proves, always, that most of them are wrong. … It’s surprising, in your division, that you have three of 10 against one team. I wonder if anybody else has that, three out of 10? Jersey and the Islanders did three in a week, two weeks ago. It was pretty neat.”

Sutter also was asked about his scoreboard-watching habits these days…

SUTTER: “Good thing about being on the West Coast is, you can start watching games at 4. So you can watch from 4 until you go to sleep, or fall asleep at 5:30. [laughs]”

Question: Were you flipping back and forth last night?

SUTTER: “I didn’t watch nothing yesterday. I was watching the mighty Kings on tape.”

Question: And? How did they do?

SUTTER: “It can get better.”