March 21st West Playoff Update

by Brandon Bibb on Mar 21, 2009 8:08 AM CDT Comment 0 comments

Losing two games to start this crucial three game road trip was bad enough for Dallas. What made it worse is six games involving the teams the Stars are battling with were the dreaded "three point" games that were either decided in OT or the Shootout. And since the Stars losses to Vancouver and Calgary were in regulation, Dallas lost ground to every team ahead of them in the standings.

Pos	Team	W	L	OTL	GP	GR	Pts	PtPct	PrjPts	MaxPts	PtsRq'd	PtPctRq'd
1	Detroit	48	15	9	72	10	105	0.729	120	125	---	---
2	San Jose	46	14	10	70	12	102	0.729	119	126	---	---
3	Calgary	41	24	6	71	11	88	0.620	102	110	---	---
4	Vancouver	38	23	9	70	12	85	0.607	100	109	3	0.112
5	Chicago	37	22	11	70	12	85	0.607	100	109	3	0.112
6	Columbus	37	28	6	71	11	80	0.563	92	102	8	0.350
7	Edmonton	35	27	9	71	11	79	0.556	91	101	9	0.395
8	Nashville	35	30	7	72	10	77	0.535	88	97	11	0.535
9	St. Louis	33	30	9	72	10	75	0.521	85	95	13	0.635
10	Anaheim	34	31	6	71	11	74	0.521	85	96	14	0.622
11	Dallas	33	30	8	71	11	74	0.521	85	96	14	0.622
12	Minnesota	33	30	8	71	11	74	0.521	85	96	14	0.622
13	Los Angeles	30	31	10	71	11	70	0.493	81	92	18	0.804

Stars Tiebreakers With Other Teams:

Anaheim - Lead season series, 7 points to 5 points with 1 game to play - Tied in goal differential -11 to -11
Columbus - Won season series, 7 points to 4 points
Edmonton - Tied season series at 2-2 - Lead in goal differential -14 to -17
Los Angeles - Trail season series, 7 points to 4 with 2 games to play - Lead goal differential -11 to -20
Minnesota - Won season series (Currently 6 points to 1 point with 1 game to play)
Nashville - Tied season series at 2-2 - Lead in goal differential -11 to -14
St. Louis - Lost season series (STL leads 6 points to 0 with 1 game to play)
Vancouver - Lead season series, 4 points to 3 with 1 game to play - Trail goal differential +19 to -14

Since out last update...

...Edmonton had two games in hand on Dallas and had leapfrogged the Stars after a 2-1 shootout win over St. Louis. Well, after drilling the Colorado Avalanche, 8-1, on Thursday and defeating the Blackhawks in a shootout in Chicago last night, they've firmly entrenched themselves in the 7th seed.

Likewise, the Nashville Predators put a little distance between themselves and the teams that are currently on the outside looking in by beating the the Kings on Monday night then following it up with back to back shootout losses to the Ducks on Wednesday night on Wednesday night and to the Sharks on Thursday night.

The Blues stayed in the race by rallying to beat the Flames last night after becoming the 11th consecutive team to lose to the Canucks at GM Place on Thursday.

And the Kings are barely hanging on after splitting the first two games of their season-long six game road trip. Thursday night, they overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat the Bruins in OT, before dropping a 4-1 decision to Pittsburgh last night.

As for the Wild, they were shutout by the Devils, 4-0, and are in the same boat as the Dallas Stars. Literally. With an identical 33-30-8 mark.

Looking Ahead

Obviously, the Stars have a big game in San Jose this afternoon. The four teams ahead of them in the standings are actually all off today, a rarity for a Saturday in the NHL. That's probably in deference to the NCAA Tournament.

Tomorrow night, Phoenix visits Anaheim while Minnesota hosts Edmonton.

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