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Coyotes take seventh seed in West, knock Sharks out of top eight

Los Angeles Kings v Phoenix Coyotes

of the Los Angeles Kings of the Phoenix Coyotes during the NHL game at Jobing.com Arena on October 21, 2010 in Glendale, Arizona.

Christian Petersen

Radim Vrbata might be one of the quietest 30-goal scorer in the NHL but his impact won’t slip under the San Jose Sharks’ radars. Vrbata scored his 31st and 32nd tallies to power the Phoenix Coyotes’ 2-0 win, bumping the ‘Yotes to seventh place in the West and dumping the Sharks to ninth.

Mike Smith and Ryan Whitney also had nights to remember. Smith collected his third shutout of the season against the Sharks alone while Whitney’s two assists park him at 999 career regular season points.

Impact on Coyotes, Sharks

With all the talk of Quebec, many wonder how many games the Coyotes have left in Phoenix. Winning games like these greatly increases its chances of at least adding some playoff contests to the possible “farewell tour.”

While the Coyotes are making the most of things, the Sharks continue to make life more difficult for themselves. After dropping one of the relatively “easy” games by losing to the Anaheim Ducks last night. It also carries on a worst-case scenario trend of defeats in regulation as four straight letdowns didn’t even result in a charity point, which seems downright required in the skin-tight stretch run.

The odds

Sports Club Stats paints a grim picture for the Sharks. The three Pacific Division teams ahead of them have at least an 81.1 percent chance to make the postseason - now with the Coyotes leading the way at 83.6 percent - while San Jose’s odds dropped 19.2 percent to just 44.9 percent.

Plenty of opportunities for change

All those numbers don’t matter as much as the raw results, obviously, which is a good and a bad thing for the Sharks. They’re four remaining games are a home-and-home against the Stars and a home-and-home against the Kings. Ultimately, San Jose can turn things around by putting things together in the final four contests.

Phoenix doesn’t have its future in its hands quite the same to degree, so they’ll probably hope San Jose sticks to playing in two-point games. The Coyotes host Anaheim and Columbus before two road games who have little to play for for very different reasons (St. Louis and Minnesota).
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It all looks much better for the Coyotes - and really the Stars and Kings - but the schedule and small room for error just-about guarantee a photo finish.