The Dallas Stars could have moved up a couple of spots in the standings Thursday night without even playing, but at the end of the night they were still in 7th place and it didn't turn out to be a good night as far as scoreboard watching. Four teams they are battling for a playoff spot were in action and three of them won and another picked up a point to tie them at 68 points.
*The team that picked up the one point in a game was the Los Angeles Kings, who lost 4-3 in a shootout to the New York Rangers. The Kings are now 8-0-3 in their last 11 games and have moved into 8th place in the Western Conference. Over the last 29 days they have picked up 14 points on the Stars. The Kings' situation is interesting because it took them basically a month of not losing a game in regulation to climb from 12th place to 8th place, gaining five points on that final playoff spot in the process. It's hard to make up ground in the NHL standings, but - as the Stars and Colorado have shown - you can lose ground quickly if you go through a slide where you drop a lot of games in regulation.
*Phoenix won 4-3 over Atlanta to stay in first place in the Pacific Division, three points ahead of the Stars. The Coyotes have won 6 straight games and have gained 9 more points than the Stars in the standings over the past 13 days.
*San Jose beat Washington 3-2 to move two points ahead of the Stars and stay one back of Phoenix. The Sharks are 11-2-1 over the last 14 games. They've gained 12 points on the Stars since January 20.
*Nashville beat Vancouver 3-1 to hit 70 points and pull two points ahead of the Stars.
*Here's a look at the current standings. Just a reminder that the wins tiebreaker is different this year because shootout wins are not included in the total when breaking a tie. For example, the Stars and Kings have played the same number of games and have the same number of points. Los Angeles has more overall wins, but seven of them are in the shootout, so their win total for a tiebreaker is 25. The Stars have 31 wins and five in the shootout, so their win total for a tiebreaker is 26. That's why the Stars rank ahead of the Kings. If you're wondering, Anaheim has four shootout wins among their 32 total wins, so their tiebreaker total is 28.
And you thought the NHL standings couldn't get any more confusing.
*The team that picked up the one point in a game was the Los Angeles Kings, who lost 4-3 in a shootout to the New York Rangers. The Kings are now 8-0-3 in their last 11 games and have moved into 8th place in the Western Conference. Over the last 29 days they have picked up 14 points on the Stars. The Kings' situation is interesting because it took them basically a month of not losing a game in regulation to climb from 12th place to 8th place, gaining five points on that final playoff spot in the process. It's hard to make up ground in the NHL standings, but - as the Stars and Colorado have shown - you can lose ground quickly if you go through a slide where you drop a lot of games in regulation.
*Phoenix won 4-3 over Atlanta to stay in first place in the Pacific Division, three points ahead of the Stars. The Coyotes have won 6 straight games and have gained 9 more points than the Stars in the standings over the past 13 days.
*San Jose beat Washington 3-2 to move two points ahead of the Stars and stay one back of Phoenix. The Sharks are 11-2-1 over the last 14 games. They've gained 12 points on the Stars since January 20.
*Nashville beat Vancouver 3-1 to hit 70 points and pull two points ahead of the Stars.
*Here's a look at the current standings. Just a reminder that the wins tiebreaker is different this year because shootout wins are not included in the total when breaking a tie. For example, the Stars and Kings have played the same number of games and have the same number of points. Los Angeles has more overall wins, but seven of them are in the shootout, so their win total for a tiebreaker is 25. The Stars have 31 wins and five in the shootout, so their win total for a tiebreaker is 26. That's why the Stars rank ahead of the Kings. If you're wondering, Anaheim has four shootout wins among their 32 total wins, so their tiebreaker total is 28.
And you thought the NHL standings couldn't get any more confusing.
Mark Stepneski
ESPNDallas.comMark Stepneski joined ESPNDallas.com in July 2010. A former news/special projects producer for KXAS-TV, he has run the Andrew's Dallas Stars Page website since 1997.
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