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Tim Kavanagh, ESPN.comMar 20, 2024, 07:00 AM ET
CloseTim Kavanagh is a senior editor for ESPN digital editorial. He’s a native of upstate New York.
This space is typically used to set up matchups on the evening’s NHL schedule that will have an impact on the playoff races, and there’s been great fodder this season due to the number of teams still fighting for those spots (particularly in the East). But with an extraordinarily light slate tonight, let’s take a look a bit further down the road for one of the teams in action.
The Dallas Stars are among the handful of clubs for which Stathletes projects a 99.9% chance of making the playoffs. Put another way, it would take an almost-unprecedented collapse for them to miss the postseason. Some chose them as their preseason Stanley Cup favorite this season, and the matchups will matter in their quest to live up to those expectations.
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Within the mighty Central Division, the Stars are projected for 108.7 standings points, in third behind the Colorado Avalanche (109.6) and Winnipeg Jets (109.9). So yeah, it’s close. But if those projections hold, it will be a first-round matchup against the Avs for Dallas. The bad news for Dallas is that Colorado has won all three games the clubs have played this season by a cumulative score of 16-8; the good (or at least, optimistic) news is that all three were in the pre-Chris Tanev era. The final matchup in their regular-season series is April 7 (10 p.m. ET, ESPN).
What if Colorado gets the Central’s No. 1 seed, and Winnipeg is Dallas’ first-round opponent? The scenario is almost exactly reversed, as the Stars have won all three matchups against the Jets by a cumulative score of 9-3. The final game for these two is April 11 (8 p.m. ET, NHL Power Play on ESPN+).
If the Stars go on a heater and win the division, they’ll take on one of the West wild cards, most likely the Nashville Predators (projected for 98.8 points), Vegas Golden Knights (97.9) or Los Angeles Kings…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/39765895/nhl-playoffs-bracket-standings-2024-stars-opponents-matchups
Author : Tim Kavanagh
Publish date : 2024-03-20 11:05:16
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