After clinching their fourth straight playoff appearance, the Dallas Stars are skating full speed ahead toward the Stanley Cup playoffs.

With their ticket to the playoffs punched, the Stars now are locked into a first-round series against the Colorado Avalanche.

Follow along below with our Stars playoff and standings tracker.

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How the NHL playoffs work

The top three teams in each of the four divisions will make up the first 12 teams in the playoffs.

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The remaining four spots will be filled by the next two highest-placed finishers in each conference, based on regular-season record and regardless of division.

In the first round, the division winner with the best record in each conference will be matched against the wild-card team with the lesser record. The wild card team with the better record will play the other division winner.

The teams finishing second and third in each division will meet in the first round to round out the playoff field.

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Stars’ current standingsOverall NHL standingsTeamGames playedWinsLossesOvertime lossesPointsWinnipeg Jets8155224114Washington Capitals8151219111Vegas Golden Knights8049229107Toronto Maple Leafs8151264106Dallas Stars8150256106Western Conference standingsTeamGPWLOTLPx-Winnipeg Jets8155224114x-Vegas Golden Knights8049229107x-Dallas Stars8150256106x-Los Angeles Kings8047249103x-Colorado Avalanche8249294102

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x-clinched playoff berth

Central Division standingsFirst-round playoff matchup

The Stars will face the Colorado Avalanche in the first round. The Stars eliminated Colorado in the second round of last year’s playoffs.

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Twitter: @dmn_stars

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