Points-blown refers to the number of points a team has frittered away by losing or "half-losing" (OTL/SOLs). The official standings don't take games-in-hand into consideration; and organizing by winning percentage -- while precise -- is frankly hard (at least for me) to conceptualize when comparing two teams' percentages. I don't know how far a team with a win% of .478 is behind a team with a .540. I have to look at the losses and OTL/SOLs. Then I can see it.

Also, it bugs me that, in the "official" standings, an OTL/SOL can cause a team to rise in the standings, when in reality, it causes the team's record to be worse. In points-blown standings, an OTL/SOL can only cause a team to fall in the standings, which is as it should be.

Two points "awarded" for every loss, one point for every OTL/SOL. Lowest point total is best. Number in parentheses is the official standings (via ESPN). Last number (+/-) is number of points (in my system) ahead or behind Los Angeles. Because it's a Kings-centric universe.

So, tonight's games...

The Good: Blues lost, Coyotes lost, Predators lost, Wild lost, Flames* lost.

The Bad: Stars won.

The Bad but less relevant: The Sharks*, Avs and Jackets won.

(*I'm going to go out on a limb and call the Sharks/Flames game. Sharks are up 7-0 in the middle of the 3rd.)

Kings are two points from 4th, two points from 9th.

Chicago 26 (1) +13 San Jose 28 (2) +11 Colorado 36 (3) +3 Nashville 37 (4) +2 Vancouver 38 (6) +1 Phoenix 39 (5) 0 Los Angeles 39 (8) -- Detroit 40 (9) -1 Calgary 42 (7) -3 Dallas 45 (10) -6 Anaheim 47 (11) -8 St. Louis 47 (13) -8 Minnesota 49 (12) -10 Columbus 55 (14) -16 Edmonton 59 (15) -20

Tie breaker is games-played, except that the winner of the tie breaker is the team who has played more games. If this seems counter-intuitive, consider this: A team with a 10-2 record is better than a team with a 2-2 record, who is, in turn better than a team that's 0-2.









