I normally do schedules post closer to the beginning of the season. Better late than never is all right too, and I guess the All-Star break is a good place to start, with no scheduled games for the weekend and in a static position in which to judge the standings.
This is what the weekly schedule looks like for the NHL the rest of the way after the break. The bottom of the image contains the amount of games for each team listed across the top in the final three and then the final two weeks of the season.
For 2015-16 the Columbus Blue Jackets play most back to backs (18), with 13 games as a tired team. Detroit the NY Rangers Pittsburgh follow closely with 17.
Quick definition of rested/tired.
Rested – team that has not played the previous night facing a team in the second night of a back-to-back set on consecutive nights.
Tired – team playing its second game on consecutive nights versus a team that is rested and not played the previous night.
Presented in the image below is the NHL teams back-to-backs, rested and tired situation and in a new column the percentage of overall back-to-back games as a tired team.
The rest of the NHL breaks it down below. Rested teams are listed in the first column and opponents across their row. Tired teams are across the top and their opponents are listed down the column.
Fortunately with a good percentage of the season already played, we could attach win loss records and winning percentage. Some interesting records just jump out. Winnipeg, for instance, has a 6-1 record as a rested team, burning through their seven season games by the All-Star break. Sporting a 3-5-1 record as a tired team (.389 winning percentage) balances that out.
Ottawa also burned through their rested games this season. They have six wins in nine games.
Last season the Los Angeles Kings missed the playoffs by two points. A narrow enough margin blowing a valuable opportunity with a soft schedule at the end of the season including four of their last 10 games as a rested club playing a tired team. This was the playoff race with about 10 games left last season where they went 2-2 in the final four rested games.
For the Playoff race, here's Rested/Tired games remaining for the rest of '14-15 with focus on West Conf teams race pic.twitter.com/Woh8K0fM2k
— Gus Katsaros (@KatsHockey) March 24, 2015
LA is 5-4-1 so far in 2015-16 as a rested team, and a superb 5-0-1 as a tired team leading the NHL with a .917 win percentage.
The Kings take advantage of their location and road team travel schedules emulating 2014-15. A team rolls through Anaheim a dozen time before facing a rested Los Angeles the very next night. That's an NHL high. The Kings were the main focus of mine scheduling post last season aptly named Californication. There's a drill down within that post that takes this into a further look at the types of advantages and disadvantages of scheduling.
With a firm grip of first place in the Pacific Division, it’s not likely these games will have as much of an impact on making the playoffs for the Kings.
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