Avalanche at Stars preview

AVALANCHE (29-26-12) at STARS (34-27-5)
8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, ALT, NHL.TV

The Stars, 5-2-0 in their past seven games, hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, one point ahead of the Minnesota Wild and three ahead of the Avalanche. Dallas is three points behind the St. Louis Blues for third place in the Central Division.
Forward Alexander Radulov will return to the Stars lineup. He was scratched for missing a team meeting prior to a 1-0 win against the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
The Avalanche, 6-2-2 in their past 10 games, have defeated the Stars twice this season at Pepsi Center, 3-2 on Nov. 24 and 6-4 on Dec. 15.

Players to watch

Avalanche forward Mikko Rantanen has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past eight games.
Stars goalie Ben Bishop is 6-2-0 with a 1.51 goals-against average, .953 save percentage and two shutouts in his past eight starts.

They said it

"It's going to be a different kind of game, not as open as it was when we played them last. This time of the year it's always tighter." -- Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon
"Just try to go out there and stay consistent. Guys are doing a really good job in front of us, making our job a little bit easier." -- Stars goalie Ben Bishop

Avalanche projected lineup

Gabriel Landeskog -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Mikko Rantanen
Colin Wilson -- Carl Soderberg -- J.T. Compher
Derick Brassard -- Tyson Jost -- Matt Calvert
Andrew Agozzino -- Alexander Kerfoot -- Sven Andrighetto
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Ian Cole -- Tyson Barrie
Patrik Nemeth -- Ryan Graves
Semyon Varlamov
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched: Gabriel Bourque, Sheldon Dries
Injured: Mark Barberio (leg), Vladislav Kamenev (shoulder), Matt Nieto (leg), Nikita Zadorov (upper body)

Stars projected lineup

Roope Hintz -- Tyler Seguin -- Alexander Radulov
Jamie Benn -- Jason Dickinson -- Blake Comeau
Mattias Janmark -- Jason Spezza -- Brett Ritchie
Andrew Cogliano -- Joel L'Esperance -- Valeri Nichushkin
Miro Heiskanen -- John Klingberg
Esa Lindell -- Roman Polak
Taylor Fedun -- Ben Lovejoy
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched: Julius Honka, Jamie Oleksiak
Injured: Mats Zuccarello (arm), Tyler Pitlick (upper body), Martin Hanzal (back), Marc Methot (upper body), Stephen Johns (upper body), Radek Faksa (neck)

Status report

Agozzino was recalled from Colorado of the American Hockey League on Wednesday. … Cogliano was out three games with an upper-body injury, the only games he has missed because of injury in his 14-season NHL career. … Faksa will miss his first game this season and is day to day.

Stat pack

Varlamov is 5-1-1 with a 2.40 GAA, .930 save percentage and one shutout in his past seven starts. … Landeskog has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his past eight games. … Benn has five goals in his past five games.