Around the NHL: Is it too early to scoreboard watch?

[Bart9349]

Looking at the NHL standings, VGK lead in length of current winning streaks with a six game win streak. The next longest streak is San Jose with a three game streak. (Why do I feel it will somehow come down to a San Jose v VGK confrontation of some sort?)

Looking at the standings, it's a pleasant surprise to see the Oilers are tied with Vancouver and behind the Avs (and the Avs have a game at hand). Maybe all the talk about an Oiler Stanley Cup run was a tad premature?

We are at almost the halfway point of the season, too.

Interestingly, the final three games for VGK are all divisional games played away (April 3, 5, and 7) at Vancouver, Oilers, and finally, Calgary. Hopefully, by then, at least two and maybe all three teams will be reduced to spoiler teams that will wilt with any kind of VGK effort.

 

[BattleBorn]

Preds lost last night.

 

[Nevada Jones]

Preds lost last night.

 

[hangman005]

Well on the brightside Flames beat LA

 

[Bart9349]

This VGK team appears very disciplined.

Reviewing the year to date penalties (1/6), the VGK is among the least penalized teams. The Preds lead with the most penalties (209), followed by Ducks (192), Dallas (187) and Pens (184). VGK is 28th (or fourth least) with 135 penalties.

I would like to thing the best teams are the least penalized, but the Yotes are tied with VGK with 135. CBJ has 132 and a very disciplined Carolina has only 114 penalities.

NHL.com - Stats

This is fortunate, however, since VGK are only average in penalty kills (17th) at 81%.

NHL.com - Stats

 

[Bart9349]

Dear diary (January 6, 2018),

This is what I call a good day:

Dallas throttles Oilers 5-1.
Flames beat the Anaheim Schmucks 3-2 with about 18 seconds left in regulation.
Nashville holds off the Kings 4-3.
No one gets a loser point.

VGK has a day off to enjoy being on top of the Western Division with a game or two in hand.

Great Thai lunch with wife. Steelers have a bye week. No snow to shovel. Avoiding the flu plague ... so far. Grateful to be comfortably warm, reasonably healthy, and a thrilled VGK fan.

Western

Central	GP	W	L	OT	PTS	ROW	GF	GA	DIFF	HOME	AWAY	S/O	L10	STRK	Last Game	Next Game
Winnipeg	42	24	11	7	55	23	140	116	+24	15-3-1	9-8-6	1-1	6-2-2	W1	Jan 5: WPG 4 - BUF 3	Jan 7 vs SJS
Nashville	41	24	11	6	54	21	129	113	+16	12-4-2	12-7-4	3-4	4-4-2	W1	Jan 6: NSH 4 - LAK 3	Jan 9 vs EDM
St. Louis	44	26	16	2	54	23	127	111	+16	15-8-0	11-8-2	3-0	4-6-0	L1	Jan 6: STL 3 - PHI 6	Jan 7 @ WSH

[TBODY] [/TBODY]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Pacific	GP	W	L	OT	PTS	ROW	GF	GA	DIFF	HOME	AWAY	S/O	L10	STRK	Last Game	Next Game
Vegas	40	28	10	2	58	26	141	112	+29	17-2-1	11-8-1	2-2	9-1-0	W1	Jan 5: VGK 5 - CHI 4	Jan 7 vs NYR
Los Angeles	42	24	13	5	53	22	126	99	+27	11-6-3	13-7-2	2-0	4-4-2	L2	Jan 6: LAK 3 - NSH 4	Jan 13 vs ANA
San Jose	39	21	12	6	48	19	109	102	+7	12-6-2	9-6-4	2-2	5-2-3	OT2	Jan 5: SJS 5 - OTT 6	Jan 7 @ WPG

[TBODY] [/TBODY]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

[TBODY] [/TBODY]
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Wild Card	GP	W	L	OT	PTS	ROW	GF	GA	DIFF	HOME	AWAY	S/O	L10	STRK	Last Game	Next Game
Dallas	43	24	16	3	51	21	132	118	+14	16-5-1	8-11-2	3-1	6-2-2	W2	Jan 6: DAL 5 - EDM 1	Jan 13 vs COL
Colorado	41	22	16	3	47	21	135	124	+11	15-7-1	7-9-2	1-1	7-2-1	W5	Jan 6: COL 7 - MIN 2	Jan 13 @ DAL
Minnesota	42	22	17	3	47	20	123	123	0	14-4-2	8-13-1	2-1	5-5-0	L1	Jan 6: MIN 2 - COL 7	Jan 9 vs CGY
Anaheim	43	19	15	9	47	17	117	120	-3	10-8-3	9-7-6	2-5	5-4-1	L1	Jan 6: ANA 2 - CGY 3	Jan 13 @ LAK
Calgary	41	21	16	4	46	19	115	119	-4	12-11-0	9-5-4	2-3	5-4-1	W3	Jan 6: CGY 3 - ANA 2	Jan 9 @ MIN

[TBODY] [/TBODY]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[BattleBorn]

Florida just boatraced St. Louis.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

Hope you guys get Karlsson.

 

[Bart9349]

Hope you guys get Karlsson.

Unlikely, unless the Sens go insane.

Erik Karlsson has been unfairly criticized by the media and Sens fans. It's hard to imagine that people forget that Karlsson is coming off a severe ankle injury (that he played with during the Sens spectacular playoff run last year).

I recommend that the guy takes the rest of the season off to rehab the ankle before he does permanent damage. Obviously, when healthy, he was one of the greatest D-men who ever played the game. Anyone who has nursed an ankle injury can tell you that they are slow to heal and very frustrating. I could not imagine playing at his level (let alone skating) with an unstable ankle.

 

[Bart9349]

I would have never guessed that the Flames would be in 2nd place in the Pacific Division in January.

Pacific	GP	W	L	OT	PTS	ROW	GF	GA	DIFF	HOME	AWAY	S/O	L10	STRK	Last Game	Next Game
Vegas	42	29	10	3	61	27	145	116	+29	18-2-2	11-8-1	2-2	8-1-1	OT1	Jan 13: VGK 2 - EDM 3	Jan 16 @ NSH
Calgary	45	25	16	4	54	23	131	125	+6	12-11-0	13-5-4	2-3	7-2-1	W7	Jan 14: CGY 4 - CAR 1	Jan 20 vs WPG
Los Angeles	43	24	14	5	53	22	128	103	+25	11-7-3	13-7-2	2-0	4-4-2	L3	Jan 13: LAK 2 - ANA 4	Jan 15 vs SJS

[TBODY] [/TBODY]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Granted, the Kings have two games in hand (and VGK have three). That said, these are strange times.

 

[willy702]

I would have never guessed that the Flames would be in 2nd place in the Pacific Division in January.

Pacific	GP	W	L	OT	PTS	ROW	GF	GA	DIFF	HOME	AWAY	S/O	L10	STRK	Last Game	Next Game
Vegas	42	29	10	3	61	27	145	116	+29	18-2-2	11-8-1	2-2	8-1-1	OT1	Jan 13: VGK 2 - EDM 3	Jan 16 @ NSH
Calgary	45	25	16	4	54	23	131	125	+6	12-11-0	13-5-4	2-3	7-2-1	W7	Jan 14: CGY 4 - CAR 1	Jan 20 vs WPG
Los Angeles	43	24	14	5	53	22	128	103	+25	11-7-3	13-7-2	2-0	4-4-2	L3	Jan 13: LAK 2 - ANA 4	Jan 15 vs SJS

[TBODY] [/TBODY]
[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Granted, the Kings have two games in hand (and VGK have three). That said, these are strange times.

Kings start proving to be unsustainable. They did bank a lot of key road points in the first 25-30 games, but interesting to note how they are killing it against non-conference teams especially. The facts don't bode well for them in the playoffs. Really I'm most concerned about the Flames and Sharks because playoff "luck" is so dependent upon goaltending and both teams have goalies who aren't consistent, but could go on a monster run for a few series. Not going to worry about the other side of the conference either, those guys can settle it in April and May, but certainly a lot of really tough outs there that thankfully the VGK would only have to beat one.

 

[Bart9349]

A happy day in LA:

Both local teams lost: Avs over Ducks (3-1) and Sharks over Kings (4-1)

The only thing better would have been if somehow the Sharks didn't get a point, either. (Kings are on a four game losing streak. Those four games are the difference between their third place spot now and tied with VGK)

 

[ChanceVegas]

San Jose and Calgary are coming on strong. They've pushed LA into the wildcard spot. We still have a 7 point lead on second place. San Jose has W3 and Calgary has W7.

 

[willy702]

San Jose and Calgary are coming on strong. They've pushed LA into the wildcard spot. We still have a 7 point lead on second place. San Jose has W3 and Calgary has W7.

Wouldn't even worry about it. Almost every playoff team gets at least a 5-game winning streak at some point and often those get to 6 or 7 games. Team like Calgary with a great core of 7-8 top players and then a big drop off to the rest of the roster is just as likely to lose 3 or 4 games after this winning streak ends when those top guns have puck luck turn against them.

As for the Sharks, I just can't see them doing much this year. Been following this team closely for two decades and its just not there. Yeah 3 wins in a row, but 2 of them extra time wins against the "Desert Dogs". They are going to muddle through this year and unless they have perfect health and get a bunch of guys hot come playoff time they won't be around long.

Now I could certainly see a losing streak getting Knights fans very anxious here, but I wouldn't worry so much. Kings are turning into the team most expected, the Ducks are in such a deep hole I don't know if getting some guys healthy is really going to do it and the Oilers have almost managed to eliminate themselves. The seas are parting and everything is set up for the Knights to have a good run in the playoffs should the team stay relatively healthy and stick to the system that got them here.

 

[BattleBorn]

Smashville shooting out with Arizona right now.

 

[BattleBorn]

Perds defeat Coyotes in the shootout.

 

[BattleBorn]

Kings just traded for Dion friggin Phaneuf.

Pretty glad he didn't waive so we could avoid that disaster.

 

[hangman005]

Kings just traded for Dion friggin Phaneuf.

Pretty glad he didn't waive so we could avoid that disaster.

Not sure we would have taken him even if he did waive.

 

[BattleBorn]

Not sure we would have taken him even if he did waive.

I guess we’ll never know, but I bet we could have gotten something for the salary dump and avoiding EK’s friend.

 

[BattleBorn]

1st Place in the league today with the Tampa loss.

 

[Supermassive]

Watching Chicago tonight - this is what happens when you lose a top scorer because you’re too top-heavy. The fill-ins are good young players but they’re in over their heads. Hopefully Neal or Perron will want to stick around at a fair rate next year.

 

[BattleBorn]

Leipsic starting on the Vancouver 1st line tonight.

 

[hangman005]

Go my boy, score lots and lots and lots of goals... and then come back here.

 

[hangman005]

Vancouver fans seem to love Leipsic... only been one game... but still

 

[Nevada Jones]

Vancouver fans seem to love Leipsic... only been one game... but still

Two assists and 7 SOG for Mr. Leipsic last night.