Phoenix goaltender Mike Smith, who was injured in Monday's game against the New York Rangers, is currently listed as day to day with a lower body injury. Backup Thomas Greiss stopped 23 of 25 shots in Tuesday's victory over Pittsburgh and is expected to start when the Coyotes conclude their three-game road trip in New Jersey on Thursday.

With their win over the Stars Tuesday, Chicago maintained a three point lead over Colorado for second place in the Central Division. Colorado won 5-4 in a shootout over Nashville Tuesday. With the shootout loss, Nashville is now seven points out of the final playoff spot with nine games to play. The Predators are still mathematically alive, but they have almost no chance at this point.

San Jose defeated Edmonton, pushing their lead over Anaheim to four points in the race for first in the Pacific Division. The Sharks have played three more games than the Ducks. San Jose is two points away from St. Louis for the best record in the Western Conference, but they have played two more games than St. Louis.

Los Angeles won its fourth straight game, defeating Washington, 5-4, in a shootout. The Kings are locked into the third spot in the Pacific Division.

Tonight's games

Vancouver plays at Minnesota. The Canucks are six points behind Phoenix for the final playoff spot, so their chances of getting are slim at this point. Wednesday's game kicks off a key back-to-back that will conclude with a game at Colorado on Thursday. The Canucks will be without Henrik Sedin and Alexandre Burrows is banged up as well, but wins in these next two will keeps their hopes alive. Minnesota hasn’t wrapped up anything as far as a playoff spot, but every point they get moves them closer.

Anaheim plays at Calgary. The Ducks, who clinched a playoff spot when the Stars lost to Chicago, are four points behind San Jose for the top spot in the Pacific Division and they have three games in hand. The Ducks play four games over the next six days while the Sharks play two during that span, giving them a chance to start making the most of those games in hand.

Playoff chances

The Stars playoff chances dropped after Tuesday's games, according to the websites that put numbers to these matters.

Hockeyreference.com's playoff probabilities report puts the Stars' chances at 49.3 percent, down from 64.0 percent the day before.

Sportsclubstats.com gives the Stars a 37.3 percent chance of making the playoffs, down from 55.4 percent the previous day.

Western Conference Playoff Race

Playoff format

The playoff format this season has changed due to realignment. The playoffs are now divisional. In the first round, the division winner with the most points will play the wild card team with the fewest points. The division leader with the second-most points will play the wild card team with the most points. The second-place team in each division will play the third-place team in each division. The wild card teams will stay in the division they play in the first round.

For example, if the playoffs started today: The Central Division playoff would have St. Louis (division winner with most points) vs. Phoenix (wild card with fewest points) and Chicago vs. Colorado. The winner of St. Louis-Phoenix would play the winner of Chicago-Colorado in the division finals. The Pacific Division playoffs would have San Jose vs. Minnesota and Anaheim vs. Los Angeles. The winner of San Jose-Minnesota would play the winner of Anaheim-Los Angeles in the division finals.

The division champions would then play in the conference finals. There is no more reseeding of seeds after each round, it is bracket play leading up to the conference finals.

The Western and Eastern conference champions, of course, then play for the Stanley Cup.

Wild card playoff race schedules