here's best guess where i think the top teams and our conference wind up points wise looking at their schedules and how they've been playing (remaining record guess in paranthesis);
NYR 113 (7-4)
MON 111 (6-3)
TB 109 (6-3)
ANA 110 (5-2-1)
STL 109 (6-3)
CHI 106 (7-4)
MIN 101 (7-3)
VAN 100 (6-4)
WPG 98 (6-4)
CGY 98 (6-2-2)
LAK 96 (7-4)
which would mean we would have to go;
9-0, (114 pts), to win the Presidents cup (NY would own the 113 tiebreaker)
7-2, (110 pts), to win the Conference (we would own first tiebreaker over ANA)
6-2-1 (109 pts), to win the division (we would own the first tiebreaker over STL)
5-4, (106 pts), to finish 2nd and have home ice over CHI (we would own first tiebreaker)
3-6 (102 pts), to finish ahead 4th of MIN (MIN would own the tiebreaker at 101)
2-6-1 (101 pts), to finish ahead of VAN and avoid STL (VAN would own tiebreaker at 100)
1-7-1, (99 pts), to finish 6th ahead of WPG and CGY
1-8, (98 pts) to make the playoffs.
obviously, some teams will play better that this, others will play worse, but this is mentally what i figure it would take. no team has ever had over 96 pts and not made the playoffs.
it shows what's at play and stake here. play as well as we did the first few months and a 7-2 or 6-2-1 to win the conference or division is certainly still possible. it probably takes a 5-4 to keep home ice the first round for us. anything worse than a 4-5 and it's potentially a disaster.