Avalanche at Stars preview

AVALANCHE (32-29-12) at STARS (38-29-6)
8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW+, ALT, NHL.TV

The Stars, 7-2-1 in their past 10 games, hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the West and are two points behind the St. Louis Blues for third place in the Central Division. The Blues host the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.
Dallas is four points ahead of the Arizona Coyotes, who hold the second wild card in the West; Arizona plays at the Florida Panthers on Thursday.
The Avalanche, who have won two straight after going 2-5-0 in their previous seven games, trail the Coyotes by two points and the Minnesota Wild by one; Colorado and Arizona each have a game in hand on Minnesota.

Players to watch

Avalanche goalie Philipp Grubauer, who will make a third straight start for the first time this season, is 4-2-0 with a 0.83 goals-against average, .971 save percentage and three shutouts in his past seven games (six starts).
Stars forward Alexander Radulov has 14 points (nine goals, five assists) in his past 12 games.

They said it

"You mix it up. I think it's tough for the other team to match." -- Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon on a third straight game dressing 11 forwards and seven defensemen
"I like the way that Jamie Benn and [center Jason Dickinson] played together against MacKinnon." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery on moving forward Jamie Benn off a line with center Tyler Seguin and forward Alexander Radulov; the three combined for 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in a 4-2 win against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday

Avalanche projected lineup

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

Stars projected lineup

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

Status report

Spezza will return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the first time this season on Tuesday.

Stat pack

MacKinnon has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past seven games. … Bishop is 6-0-0 with a 0.55 GAA, .980 save percentage and three shutouts in his past six starts. … Seguin has nine assists in his past seven games. … Benn has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past two games.