The Vancouver Canucks hit a snag in the last two weeks, dropping three of their last four games, something they haven’t done since the beginning of February. Vancouver is still doing fine as far as playoff seeding goes, but the final few weeks of the season is hardly the time to go cold as ice. What’s worse for the Canucks is that when they lose, then tend to lose in regulation play. They have the lowest total of OTL points in the NHL with four.

The Canucks are presently on top of the Northwest Division and as a division leader, are in third place in the Western Conference. However, the Phoenix Coyotes, who are in fourth with 100 points, have six more points than the Canucks and are also ahead of second-place Chicago. The Canucks and their 94 points are five back of Chicago, 10 back of San Jose, but have only one less win than the Hawks and are two less than the Sharks.

To look at the top three in the standings, you’d almost think that a win was worth five points. But really it’s the overtime losses that some teams are benefitting from. So far this season, 266 points have been handed out to teams in losing efforts, averaging to almost nine per team. The Canucks only have four. Chicago has seven and San Jose has 10. Combined these teams have been given 21 points for losing 21 times.

If you take away the overtime loss points and the top three teams in the West will be separated by just four points. In fact, if you take them away, sixth-seed Detroit will almost fall out of a playoff position, dropping 13 points to eighth. These points are ruining the integrity of the game. While it’s incredibly unlikely, the fact that a team can lose every game of the season in overtime and still finish with 82 points is ludicrous. Have a team go 20-0-62 and they’ll easily finish in a playoff spot.