canucks are hot again!!!

sorry about not posting in the last month, but i've been busy and forgetful, and the canucks have been winning too much for me to keep track. here are all the game scores since that loss in dallas:
feb 15: 4-2 win over montreal
feb 17: 5-3 win over calgary
feb 19: 5-2 win over ottawa
feb 21: 3-2 shootout win over toronto (sundin got the tie-breaker vs ex-team)
feb 24: 3-0 loss to montreal
feb 27: 2-1 win over tampa bay
mar 1: 3-1 win over columbus
mar 3: 4-2 win over minnesota
mar 7: 3-1 win over san jose
mar 9: 3-2 loss over la
mar 11: 4-3 overtime loss to anaheim
mar 13: 4-2 win over la

now here come the fun, exciting stats. since february 1st, the nucks have been 13-3-1 in 17 games, which has significantly boosted them in the west and taken the league by surprise. with one month left before playoffs, the predictions for playoffs are coming in, and vancouver is getting the "dark horse pick" for the west by many analysts, mainly because of their sudden sky-rocketing in the west.
now for the standings. in my last post, the nucks had just jumped back into playoff position, but were still in the tight race for that position. here are the standings a month later:

1.	* Detroit	68	97
2.	* San Jose	66	96
3.	* Calgary	68	86
4.	Chicago	66	83
5.	Vancouver	67	79
6.	Columbus	69	78
7.	Edmonton	67	72
8.	Dallas	68	72
9.	Minnesota	67	71
10.	Nashville	68	71
11.	St. Louis	67	70
12.	Anaheim	68	70
13.	Los Angeles	67	67
14.	Phoenix	68	62
15.	Colorado	68	61

there is still a tight race amongst 6 teams for the last 2 playoff spots, but this shows that, with a 7-point lead on that race, vancouver is almost guaranteed a playoff seed. nucks still have 15 games left though, which allows for almost anything to happen. the worst would be a repeat of last year, losing 7 of the last 8 and falling from division-winning contention to out of the playoffs. the best is to win all the games, have everyone else lose, and lead the conference (which is 99% unlikely to happen). the most likely scenario is staying in 5th, maybe moving to 4th. however, if canucks keep winning, and calgary loses a couple more games (they only have 14 left to play), we could be in contention again for the division, which would be a huge victory. we are only behind calgary by 7 points now, so it could still happen...

now that we're getting close to the end of the season, i have a couple predictions:
1. vancouver and calgary play once more against each other on april 7, which is the 3rd-last game of the season for both teams. i see it likely that, if the standings end up happening that way, this game will determine the winner of the division. for example, consider the scenario when team X is 3 points up on team Y when entering the game. if team X wins, they'll be 5 points up on Y, so even if X loses its last 2 games and Y wins theirs, X will still win the division by 1 point. if Y wins, they narrow the gap to 3 points, so if X loses the last 2 games and Y wins theirs, Y will win the division by 1 point. If there is an overtime, the gap will become only 4 points, so no matter which team wins the game, if the winner loses their last 2 games and the loser wins theirs, there will be a tie for the division win.
2. vancouver and calgary will face in the 2nd round of the playoffs. one of the teams will definitely be in 3rd, while the other one will likely be in 4th or 5th. if both teams win in the 1st round, and the other series in the west work out accordingly, vancouver and calgary will face in the 2nd round. if the lower team falls to 6th, they will play in the 1st round. if the other teams have different results for the 1 st round, then they might not face in the 2nd round, but if they both win in 2nd round, they will battle in 3rd round for the conference final.


here are the remaning 15 games for the season:
sun mar 15 vs. colorado, 7:00 pm
tues mar 17 vs. dallas, 7:00 pm
thurs mar 19 vs st.louis, 7:00 pm
sat mar 21 @ phoenix, 7:00 pm
tues mar 24 @ dallas, 5:30 pm
thurs mar 26 @ st.louis, 5:30 pm
fri mar 27 @ colorado, 6:00 pm
sun mar 29 @ chicago, 4:00 pm
tues mar 31 @ minnesota, 5:00 pm
thurs apr 2 vs anaheim, 7:00 pm
sat apr 4 @ edmonton, 7:00 pm
sun apr 5 vs colorado, 7:00 pm
tues apr 7 vs calgary, 7:00 pm
thurs apr 9 vs la, 7:00 pm
sat apr 11 @ colorado, 12:00 pm