Upcoming Must Win Games to make the playoffs

[hockey jedi]

You have to win your games against lesser opponents. Three point games against these teams are okay. We have one game against Nashville, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Montreal, Detroit and Utah. = 10 points out of 12 needed

Then we need to go 2-1-1 (and three point games are okay against these teams) in the two games against Colorado, and single games against Edmonton and Winnipeg. = 5 points out of 8 needed

That gives us 96 points.

[hockey jedi]

After tonight, the wildcard standings look like this:

Minnesota 85 points
St. Louis 81 points
Vancouver 76 points
Calgary 77 points
Utah 75 points

Projecting the games through March 31st assigning losses against teams with better records and wins against teams with worse records.

Minnesota: Dallas-L, Vegas-L, Washington-L, New Jersey-W, New Jersey-W 2W 3L 4 points 89 points
St. Louis: Montreal-W, Nashville-W, Colorado-L 2W 1L 4 points 85 total
Vancouver: New Jersey-L, NYI-W, Columbus-W, Winnipeg-L 2W 2L 4 points 80 total
Calgary: Seattle-W, Dallas-L, Edmonton-L, Colorado-L 1W 3L 2 points 79 total
Utah: Detroit-W, Tampa Bay-L, Florida-L, Chicago-W 2W 2L 4 points 79 points

Hoping New Jersey beats Minnesota twice to close out March. Then we are tied for the first wildcard.

C'mon Dallas, New Jersey and Utah. We could use a little more separation.

[JoshInFenton]

3/24

Vancouver @ New Jersey - Vancouver manages to win this in a shootout. this helps a little, but not ideal.
Minnesota @ Dallas - Dallas won this one, arguably could've really stomped the wild but lots of near misses made it just a 3-0 win.
Detroit @ Utah - Detroit almost sinks Utah in this wild card race.

3/25

Montreal @ Blues - Gonna be a real fight here, might see the same effort we saw from Vancouver out of Montreal. This is the game that could most decide the season out of all of them, a win here and we give ourselves a lot of leeway for the games closer to the end of the season. a single point is not ideal but would be better than zero.
Vegas @ Minnesota - The 2nd of a back-to-back, they'll need to play a good bit better than they did tonight to beat Vegas. A win by the blues and a loss by Minnesota and it's just a 2 point margin with Minnesota having just a single game in hand, and it would be well and truly on for WC1.
Seattle @ Calgary - They still have a fairly brutal run-out of a schedule, but they've been holding on well so far. Seattle could really do us a solid.

3/26

Vancouver @ NYI - Islanders are a tough opponent, could see them giving Vancouver a run for their money. A regulation loss would really help, an OTL would honestly be really significant too.
Dallas @ Edmonton - This is worth watching on TNT. We have to be a bit concerned with Dallas overtaking Winnipeg if we don't chase down Minnesota for WC1. I think of all teams, dallas is easily the worst to face. So nothing directly impacting us right this moment, but if Edmonton wins it is better.

[hockey jedi]

After tonight, the wildcard standings look like this:

Minnesota 85 points
St. Louis 81 points
Vancouver 78 points
Calgary 77 points
Utah 75 points

Projecting the games through March 31st assigning losses against teams with better records and wins against teams with worse records.

Minnesota: Dallas-L, Vegas-L, Washington-L, New Jersey-W, New Jersey-W 2W 3L 4 points 89 points
St. Louis: Montreal-W, Nashville-W, Colorado-L 2W 1L 4 points 85 total
Vancouver: NYI-W, Columbus-W, Winnipeg-L 2W 1L 4 points 82 total
Calgary: Seattle-W, Dallas-L, Edmonton-L, Colorado-L 1W 3L 2 points 79 total
Utah: Tampa Bay-L, Florida-L, Chicago-W 1W 2L 2 points 77 points

Hoping New Jersey beats Minnesota twice to close out March. Then we are tied for the first wildcard.

[hockey jedi]

After tonight, the wildcard standings look like this:

Minnesota 85 points
St. Louis 83 points
Calgary 79 points
Vancouver 78 points
Utah 75 points

Projecting the games through March 31st assigning losses against teams with better records and wins against teams with worse records.

Minnesota: Washington-L, New Jersey-W, New Jersey-W 2W 1L 4 points 89 points
St. Louis: Nashville-W, Colorado-L 1W 1L 2 points 85 total
Vancouver: NYI-W, Columbus-W, Winnipeg-L 2W 1L 4 points 82 total
Calgary: Dallas-L, Edmonton-L, Colorado-L 0W 3L 0 points 79 total
Utah: Tampa Bay-L, Florida-L, Chicago-W 1W 2L 2 points 77 points

Hoping New Jersey beats Minnesota twice to close out March. Then we are tied for the first wildcard.

[hockey jedi]

You have to win your games against lesser opponents. Three point games against these teams are okay. We have games against Nashville, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Detroit and Utah. = 8 points out of 10 needed

Then we need to go 2-1-1 (and three point games are okay against these teams) in the two games against Colorado, and single games against Edmonton and Winnipeg. = 5 points out of 8 needed

That gives us 96 points.

[TheJackBurton]

You have to win your games against lesser opponents. Three point games against these teams are okay. We have games against Nashville, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Detroit and Utah. = 8 points out of 10 needed

Then we need to go 2-1-1 (and three point games are okay against these teams) in the two games against Colorado, and single games against Edmonton and Winnipeg. = 5 points out of 8 needed

That gives us 96 points.

If we get to 96 Calgary would have to go 9-3 over their last 12 to pass us. If they only get to 8 wins they finish with 95.

6 of their last 12 are against: VGK 2, LAK 1 (final game of the season), Edm 1, Dal 1, Avs 1

They could very well go 2-4 in those 6 games alone. The 2 wins being against LAK at the end of the season if LA has nothing to play for, and VGK in one of the 2.

If we can get 3 out of the next 4 points we'll be sitting pretty good.

[Bluesfan1978]

The Flames have Dallas, Edm, Col, and Utah the next 4. Hopefully Edm has Connor and Leon back for their game. If they could lose two of those it would be great for the Blues. I also think catching Minnesota is also very possible.

[hockey jedi]

We may catch Minnesota tomorrow night. It will be tough beating an angry Nashville team at home for the third time in two weeks. We have a better team, so it's doable.

[Bluesfan1978]

If the blues go 7-2 or 6-3 their last 9 they should be in by either catching the Wild or staying ahead of the flames.

[hockey jedi]

Do I dare add Colorado to the mix? We play them twice. After tonight, the standings look like this:

Minnesota 87 points
St. Louis 85 points
Vancouver 80 points
Calgary 79 points - Kadri is willing Calgary to the wildcard
Utah 75 points - bye bye...see you next year

Projecting the games through March 31st assigning losses against teams with better records and wins against teams with worse records.

Minnesota: New Jersey-W, New Jersey-W 2W 0L 4 points 91 points
St. Louis: Colorado-L 0W 1L 0 points 85 total
Vancouver: Columbus-W, Winnipeg-L 1W 1L 4 points 82 total
Calgary: Edmonton-L, Colorado-L 0W 2L 0 points 79 total


Hoping New Jersey beats Minnesota twice to close out March. Then we are tied for the first wildcard if we beat Colorado.

[hockey jedi]

You have to win your games against lesser opponents. Three point games against these teams are okay. We have games against Pittsburgh, Seattle and Detroit and Utah. = 6 points out of 8 needed

Then we need to go 2-1-1 (and three point games are okay against these teams) in the two games against Colorado, and single games against Edmonton and Winnipeg. = 5 points out of 8 needed

That gives us 96 points.

[JoshInFenton]

No to Colorado in the mix unless they blow a 3 goal lead and lose in regulation, they have a game in hand as well. I also only want to finish in the 3rd seed if Dallas passes Winnipeg anyways, we have not had fun against Dallas at all. Not that many have.

I'll eliminate the redundant schedule watching posts for a bit since work is on overdrive these days, but will repeat what i said elsewhere that a lot will really get decided this weekend. If the blues even get a point against Colorado, it's big trouble for Vancouver and Calgary. If Vancouver loses to Winnipeg and/or Columbus, then they are even further behind. If calgary cant get 5 or 6 points on their 3 city 3 in 4 nights road trip, then they gain little to no ground.

[JoshInFenton]

Well, the odds of catching Minnesota just shot way up. The blues were mostly an expected 0 or 1 point outcome tonight, whereas the wild were very much 50/50 and an expected outcome of about a point there.

There is a game in hand and the blues also have to beat them outright in points so we've got a bit of help we need still, but what i said a month ago might be possible is now looking VERY possible.

[hockey jedi]

You have to win your games against lesser opponents. Three point games against these teams are okay. We have games against Pittsburgh, Seattle and Detroit and Utah. = 6 points out of 8 needed

Then we need to go 2-1-1 (and three point games are okay against these teams) in the two games against Colorado, and single games against Edmonton and Winnipeg. = 5 points out of 8 needed We just got 2 of the points with the win against Colorado. 3 out of 6 needed.

That gives us 96 points.

[hockey jedi]

Do I dare add Colorado to the mix? We play them twice. After tonight, the standings look like this:

Minnesota 87 points - has a game against NJ tomorrow Projects to 89 points
St. Louis 87 points - we are done for March
Vancouver 81 points - plays Winnipeg tomorrow Projects to 81 points
Calgary 79 points - Calgary to play Edmonton tonight, and Colorado on Monday Projects to 79 points

Projecting the games through March 31st assigning losses against teams with better records and wins against teams with worse records. I wouldn't mind seeing Calgary beat Colorado. I don't believe Calgary can catch us, but we could catch Colorado.