ten days to playoffs, and nothing is certain yet....

here are the scores in the last couple games:
mar 29 4-0 shutout win over chicago
mar 31 2-1 overtime win over minnesota
apr 2 6-5 shootout loss to anaheim

the last couple days have been interesting in the race for the NW division. with the wins in chicago and minnesota, we went one point ahead of calgary. on april 2nd, calgary won their game against dallas, and we lost in overtime, so that tied the two teams at 94 points in 77 games. due to better statistics, calgary got NW lead back. however, last night, calgary lost to minnesota, which put them at 94 points in 78 games, and since we had played less, we went back into 1st!!!!
tonight's game is against edmonton, starting an hour from now. this is a very important game, since while we are trying to get a lead on calgary, the oilers are trying to get into the playoffs. this will be rather interesting.
here are the current western conference standings:

1.	y-San Jose	77	113
2.	y-Detroit	77	107
3.	x-Vancouver	77	94
4.	x-Chicago	77	95
5.	x-Calgary	78	94
6.	Columbus	77	88
7.	Anaheim	78	86
8.	St. Louis	78	85
9.	Nashville	78	84
10.	Minnesota	78	83
11.	Edmonton	78	81
12.	Dallas	78	78
13.	Phoenix	78	75
14.	Los Angeles	77	73
15.	Colorado	77	64

the only certain things so far are that the top five are definitely in the playoffs, the bottom three are definitely out, and san jose and detroit win their divisions. everything else is a jumble. not only is there the battle between the nucks and the flames, but there is chicago sitting there between the two of them interfering with home-ice advantage. also, there are still 5 teams fighting for playoff seeds, although st. louis will hopefully kick out dallas tonight.
i have been thinking about who will end up where in the west, and here are my predictions:
-vancouver will win the NW (of course)
-st. louis and anaheim will grab those last two seeds
-just because i say "last two seeds" i don't necessarily mean 7th and 8th. what i think is that st. louis will pass both anaheim and columbus in the standings (there are still enough games to do so), and that would make a hopefully easy, although possibly dangerous, matchup for the canucks in the first round.

remember a few weeks ago, when i predicted it will come down to that nucks-flames game on the 7th for the NW title? well, here's the current scenario: if canucks beats edmonton tonight and colorado tomorrow, and calgary loses to los angeles monday (although this might seem very unlikely), then the nucks will enter that game against calgary with a 4-point advantage, and a win will guarantee the NW title!!!
teams left for vancouver to play: edmonton, colorado (twice), calgary, los angeles
teams left for calgary to play: los angeles, vancouver, edmonton (home-home double header to end season)
we seem to have the easier schedule, especially since when calgary visits, that will be a double-header for them. let's give them hell!

last games of season:
tonight @ edmonton, 7:00 pm
sun apr 5 (tomorrow) vs. colorado, 7:00 pm
tues apr 7 vs. calgary, 7:00 pm
thurs apr 9 vs. los angeles, 7:00 pm
sat apr 11 @ colorado, 12:00 pm

wednesday april 15th: beginning of playoffs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!