March of the West: Day 6

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.”