Western Conference Standings Watch: The Final Week

This is it for the Los Angeles Kings; we’re now in the final week of the regular season as they prepare for their final five games, starting Thursday against the Vancouver Canucks.

The Mammoth and Golden Knights continue to stack up victories and are the two hottest teams in the Western Conference playoff race, each winning four straight games.

Meanwhile, the Anaheim Ducks continue to slide, now losers of six straight, and have dropped from the No. 1 seed to the third seed in the division. If Los Angeles can defeat the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday and Anaheim loses to San Jose, the Kings will be just two points back for the third seed.

Teams like Nashville, LA, and even San Jose are putting pressure on Anaheim because of its recent skid, and with a much tougher schedule in its last four games, Anaheim can make things interesting in the final week of the regular season.

But Los Angeles still has to take care of business in its final five games to be playoff-bound and determine where it will finish in the standings.

Here’s a look at the current playoff standings in the middle of the divisions:

Central Division:

4. Utah Mammoth – 41-30-6, 88 points

5. Nashville Predators – 37-31-10, 84 points

6. Winnipeg Jets – 34-31-12, 80 points

Pacific Division:

3. Anaheim Ducks – 41-32-5, 87 points

4. Los Angeles Kings – 32-26-19, 83 points

5. San Jose Sharks – 37-32-7, 81 points

With the Ducks, Predators, and Mammoth holding the tiebreakers over the Kings, Los Angeles is going to have to catch them with more points if they want to surpass them in the standings.