The playoffs don’t begin for another month, but Wednesday night will have a postseason atmosphere when the Colorado Avalanche host the Dallas Stars in a matchup of the top teams in the NHL.

Colorado has led the league for most of the season but losing three of its last four allowed red-hot Dallas to cut the gap to three points. The Stars won 14 of 15 games before losing at home to the Utah Mammoth on Monday night, their first regulation loss since Jan. 22.

The Avalanche led Dallas by 12 points at that point, but now they are fighting for the Central Division title and home ice throughout the playoffs.

The Stars’ one loss in the previous 15 games came March 6 in a shootout against the Avalanche, who tied it with 15 seconds left in regulation. That increased the Avalanche’s lead to seven points, but things have tightened since.

Dallas had a chance to get within one point but gave up four goals in the third period to the Mammoth in a 6-3 loss. The Stars quickly shifted their focus to Wednesday’s showdown.

“It’s a lot like playoffs right now. You can’t let one game affect the next,” Stars captain Jamie Benn said. “It’s about moving on quickly here and learning from this one. We’ve got a big game coming up here (against Colorado). We want to get two points against those guys every chance we can get. Looking forward to another big game here.”

The Stars have surged despite the absences of Mikko Rantanen, Roope Hintz and Radek Faksa. Rantanen is the closest to returning but will be out until at least the end of March.

Colorado is also dealing with injuries to key players. Artturi Lehkonen (upper body), Gabriel Landeskog (lower body) and Ross Colton (upper body) won’t play against Dallas, and their absences have disrupted the Avalanche’s flow.

Nazem Kadri, acquired from the Calgary Flames at the trade deadline, has played wing on the first line with Nathan MacKinnon and Martin Necas instead of his natural center position. Colorado dressed only 11 forwards for the past three games, losing the last two.

The Avalanche allowed a season high in goals Monday in a 7-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins scored three goals on their first five shots when Colorado was guilty of missed assignments in its own zone.

“The chemistry matters,” said MacKinnon, who leads the NHL with 45 goals and reached 110 points for the fourth straight season. “It’s no one’s fault. It’s just different. New teams, and then a lot of different line combinations lately, for everybody. It’s hard. It sounds like an excuse. (Monday) was just bad, too. We just played bad.”

The Avalanche understand the importance of Wednesday night. Head coach Jared Bednar approached the recent game in Dallas with a playoff mindset, and the third of four meetings will be the same.

The teams finish the season series in Dallas on April 4.

“Everything’s crucial right now,” center Brock Nelson said. “We just (need) a little bounce-back.”

–Field Level Media

As much as it is a long shot for the St. Louis Blues to make the playoffs, they have a golden chance to keep the faith when they continue their road trip Wednesday against the slumping Calgary Flames.

The Blues are coming off a 3-2 loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday, but they have been one of the league’s hottest teams since the Olympic break.

St. Louis has posted a 7-2-1 mark since Feb. 26 to keep its playoff hopes on life support. Going into Tuesday’s play, the closest wild-card spot sits seven points away with 15 games remaining in the regular season.

“The players came back and are focused on having good habits,” said Blues coach Jim Montgomery, whose club had a seven-game point streak snapped in the first outing of a three-game trip. “And they want a little redemption.”

After facing Calgary, the Blues finish their road trip against the only team below the Flames in the overall standings, the Vancouver Canucks, giving them another chance to keep earning points.

Though they suffered a setback in Winnipeg, the Blues can take solace in believing they legitimately deserved to win. After falling behind 2-0 in the first eight minutes, the Blues controlled the clash but could not pull even.

“I think overall, we were the better team,” forward Dalibor Dvorsky said. “We had more time in the (offensive) zone. We’ve just got to get to the net more and have more net hunger. I think our play overall was pretty good. The main part is we’ve just got to get hungrier in front of the net and score some dirty goals.”

The Flames, who are five points behind St. Louis, return to the Saddledome after suffering a 5-2 road loss Monday to the Detroit Red Wings.

Calgary lost four of five on its road trip and surrendered 23 goals along the way.

“It’ll be good to be home, be in front of our fans and regroup,” forward Blake Coleman said.

Despite their position in the standings, the Flames are starting strong in games but continue to be overmatched despite their efforts.

In Detroit, they led 1-0 after the first period but gave up four goals in the second period. Their inability to score has been a recurring problem.

The league’s lowest-scoring team (2.46 goals per game) has not scored any power-play goals in the last five games and only two over the last 11 outings. As a result, any goal scored against them becomes even more valuable.

“We gave up too many odd-man rushes, and I think a little bit of that is a lack of recognition of who you are on the ice against,” Flames coach Ryan Huska said about the Detroit game. “Those are all goals where I feel we hurt ourselves.”

As they gear up for a six-game home stretch, the Flames have managed only five wins in their last 19 games (5-11-3).

“We’ve got to get back at it. I think the challenge for our team is to put 60 minutes together,” Huska said. “We’ve talked about the consistency we have to play with and there are certain things that we cannot do but are doing too often and it’s shooting us in the foot.”

–Field Level Media

The Philadelphia Flyers kick off a three-game, make-it-or-break-it California road trip on Wednesday night when they face the Anaheim Ducks.

Entering Tuesday, Philadelphia was seven points behind both the third-place New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division and the Boston Bruins for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot with 16 games remaining.

That makes the trip to sunny California, where Philadelphia also plays the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday and the San Jose Sharks on Saturday, a crucial one when it comes to maintaining the team’s playoff hopes.

The Flyers, 6-3-1 in their last 10 games, come in off a disappointing 2-1 shootout loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday. Rookie forward Alex Bump scored the lone goal for Philadelphia, which went 0-for-3 in the shootout.

It’s a homecoming game for Flyers center Trevor Zegras, the ninth overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft by the Ducks, and defenseman Jamie Drysdale, picked sixth overall in 2020 by Anaheim.

Zegras, who is second on the team with 22 goals and 54 points, was traded to Philadelphia last June for forward Ryan Poehling and two draft picks. Drysdale, who has seven goals and 27 points, was dealt to the Flyers along with a second-round pick in January 2024 for forward Cutter Gauthier.

Drysdale said the Flyers remain focused on their playoff pursuit despite the tough loss Saturday and the 90-plus degree temperatures they’re encountering in southern California.

“I think every guy in the room is one-track minded still on getting in,” Drysdale said. “There are no ifs, ands or buts. … We’re not out until we’re out, so I think the team can build off the (overtime loss), and that’s kind of our attitude. I know for a fact that’s how everyone in the room feels.”

Anaheim returned home from a 2-2-0 Canadian road trip with a one-point lead in the Pacific Division over the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Ducks capped the trip with a 4-3 victory at the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday. Gauthier, who scored the winner with 2:30 remaining, leads Anaheim in goals (34) and points (59).

Forward Troy Terry, back after missing nine games with an upper-body injury, scored once, contributed two assists and earned a plus-3 rating. Leo Carlsson scored two goals and added an assist, while Lukas Dostal made 27 saves for the Ducks.

Defenseman John Carlson, acquired in a trade with the Washington Capitals on March 6, made his Anaheim debut in the win and was a plus-1 in 22:59 of ice time.

“He was a horse. Wow, what a game,” Ducks coach Joel Quenneville said. “That was impressive. I mean, just coming into our team, systematically he looked like he played here his whole career. And poised, patient, play recognition. There’s a lot of kids back there that he’s helping every shift. I can’t speak highly enough of what we just saw in one game.”

This is the second of two meetings between the teams this season. Spurred by two goals from Zegras, the Flyers won 5-2 in Philadelphia on Jan. 6.

–Field Level Media