Kings Math: 23 – 1 = 9?

My retooled, repackaged and re-hyped comment from LAKI…

Here’s the breakdown of the 23 minus 1 games ahead.

Going through all the games since the Kings “Stanley Cup Contending” 4-0 thrashing of the Sharks on December 27th, one thing is clear:

The Kings need Lithium.

No, not this lithium!

This Lithium…their bipolar, erratic play as been a huge issue all season.

It had the club dive into a hard tailspin after the Sharks beat down only to pull up right before they smashed into the ground, where they proceeded to soar skyward again until the flop on the island. This also happened early in the season with the manic start followed by a deep dark depressing losing streak.

There have been 24 games played since that “perfect game” (not including last night) and it just so happens that the losing streak ended smack-dab in the middle.

In the 12 games between Dec. 29 and Jan. 20 the Kings went…

2-10-0

In the 12 games between Jan. 22 and Feb. 19 the Kings went…

7-1-4

The only regulation loss being against the Islanders. In those 24 games, the Kings combined for a 9-11-4 record. Not good enough to be in the post season if it continues this way.

Now, it just so happens that the Kings have almost exactly the same number of games left in the season as my sample-size above; 22 after last night’s huge victory over the Mighty-lame Ducks.

The next 22 games must garner enough points to reach a “safe” number in the standings so that the Kings have an excellent chance at making the playoffs. Most people believe that safe number to be 95 points; and to get there, the Kings need to get 25 points or have no less than the equivalent of this record:

12-9-1 (25points + 70points = 95) or they could go 11-8-3, 10-7-5 or even 9-6-7 where for every 2 additional overtime losses you take away 1 regulation loss.

But the bottom line is, as Dominick put it, “Any losses that equal more than 9.5 games, between now and the end of the season, and the Kings are done.”

So essentially 9 is the magic loss number. If they lose 10 then they’re done. They can, of course, lose only 9 and still not come close to making it if they rack up a bunch of OTL’s.

So from here on out, you can keep track of the loss column and hope that it doesn’t dwindle too quickly so as to put themselves behind the proverbial eight ball. Consistency will be the key. If they can just play, “a couple of wins in a row sprinkled with a loss here and there”  type hockey, then they will make it in no problem and they will be well-tuned for the playoffs.