With Nashville and Anaheim winning last night, the projected cut is now at 89 points. Which means for Dallas, they would need 14 points out of 16 possible to get to that magical mark.

Again, you can keep up with the latest updates here.

And unlike last time, I actually double-checked to make sure it was republished after updating the data.

Since the Last Update

As expected, Minnesota drilled the Islanders and Anaheim blew out the Avalanche. The Wild stay in the thick of things two points out while Anaheim holds onto the 8th seed, but are also tied with Nashville for the 7th seed

So where did Edmonton go? Oh yeah, they lost last night at Phoenix. Couple that with Tuesday's regulation loss at home to Detroit and they've fallen out of the playoff picture for now.

The Oilers are tied with St. Louis, who beat the Vancouver Canucks at home last night, 4-2.

Which, for the 'Nucks, meant a lost opportunity to keep up with Chicago in the 4th seed and gain ground on the Flames, who got shutout on back to back nights. First, by a 2-0 score against Pittsburgh on Wednesday followed by a 5-0 defeat in Columbus last night.

Speaking of the Blue Jackets, I'm just going to go ahead and suggest that they'll be the team that nobody will want to face in the first round. I realize this will mark their first foray into the post season in franchise history. But they've got who figures to be a dead lock for the rookie of the year in Steve Mason, a red hot first line with Kristian Huselius and Rick Nash. And they also have Hitch behind the bench.

But we're not doing a playoff preview here, are we?

Continuing, the Chicago Blackhawks registered their second consecutive win with a 6-5 shootout win over San Jose Wednesday night. Granted, they blew a 4-1 lead.  But anytime you can register a win this late in the season against one of the two best teams in the West, you don't complain. And oh yeah, you don't think having Patrick Sharp back in that lineup doesn't make a difference with one of my first NHL loves as a hockey fan?

Oh yeah, the Red Wings have been off the last two nights. San Jose played their game in hand on Detroit Wednesday night against Chicago and both teams are now tied with 107 points in the battle for the top seed in the West.

Looking Ahead

• Detroit gets their chance to beat up on the Islanders at home tonight.
• Vancouver, assuming they were able to survive the great spring snow storm of 2009 in Denver, gets to beat up on Colorado tonight.
  
• Chicago plays host to New Jersey at the United Center tonight.
  
• And Edmonton visits Anaheim tonight.