Colorado @ Dallas preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 15, 2018 ) Dallas 4, Colorado 6

The Dallas Stars have won three in a row to move into the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference, three points ahead of the Colorado Avalanche. The Stars aim to strengthen their position while dealing a blow to the ninth-place Avalanche on Thursday when the Central Division rivals meet at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

Defenseman John Klingberg boosted his point total to eight (two goals, six assists) in eight contests and extended his point streak to three games after scoring a goal early in the second period of Tuesday's 1-0 win over the New York Rangers. "I should shoot more. I'm always looking for passes first or tipped shots, so I should shoot more," said the 26-year-old Swede, who is two assists shy of 200 and one point short of 250 for his career. While Dallas was able to get the job done in regulation, Colorado received a rare positive in overtime this season by improving to 2-11 in the extra session on Tuesday when Nathan MacKinnon scored his club-best 34th goal in a 4-3 win over Detroit. The 23-year-old scored and set up a goal in the Avalanche's 3-2 victory over Dallas on Nov. 24 before erupting for a season high-tying four points (one goal, three assists) in a 6-4 triumph against the Stars on Dec. 15.

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, Altitude (Colorado), FS Southwest (Dallas)

ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (29-26-12): Mikko Rantanen recorded at least three points for the 10th time this season when he scored a goal and set up two others against the Red Wings to give him nine (five goals, four assists) of his career-best 85 points in the last eight games. "It doesn't matter what happened in the past. It's the 15 games we have left. A good season is to get into the playoffs," the 22-year-old said. "If we don't, I don't think that is a good season." Rantanen has three goals and two assists in the two meetings with Dallas while captain Gabriel Landeskog has two and one, respectively, in the series.

ABOUT THE STARS (34-27-5): Ben Bishop hasn't had much room for error in his last two games, turning aside all 28 shots versus the Rangers and 57 of 58 in the last two games overall while surviving some rather tense moments in the third period. "Yeah, it's two games in a row," the 32-year-old Colorado native said. "Obviously, in St. Louis (a 4-1 win on Saturday), they came at us pretty good and (Tuesday) in the third period the penalty kill was huge. A lot of big kills there when we needed them, and two games in a row where we shut it down in the third period." Bishop takes a 5-1-0 mark with a 1.50 goals-against average and .950 save percentage in his last six starts at home into the tilt with the Avalanche, versus whom he yielded two goals on 16 shots in a 6-4 setback in Colorado on Dec. 15.

OVERTIME

1. Landeskog has 11 points (three goals, eight assists) in his last nine contests.

2. Stars C Tyler Seguin (two goals, two assists) and RW Alexander Radulov (four assists) have recorded four points against the Avalanche this season.

3. The Avalanche snapped a five-game skid in Dallas with a 4-1 triumph on Jan. 13, 2018.

PREDICTION: Stars 2, Avalanche 1