{"id":489148,"date":"2026-03-06T13:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T13:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/489148\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T13:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T13:46:13","slug":"a-central-division-battle-between-the-nhls-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/489148\/","title":{"rendered":"A Central Division battle between the NHL\u2019s best"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dallas Stars<\/a> will put their franchise-record 10-game winning streak<\/a> on the line Friday night when they welcome the NHL-best Colorado Avalanche to the American Airlines Center.<\/p>\n

The pair Central Division rivals sit atop the division entering the game with Colorado (41-10-9) currently sitting in first place and Dallas (38-14-9) not far behind.<\/p>\n

The two teams are among the best in hockey and have been for a few years, leading to multiple playoff bouts, including last year\u2019s dramatic seven-game series. Given the quality of both teams this season, Friday\u2019s game could very well be a preview of yet another playoff series.<\/p>\n

Here are three things to know about the marquee matchup.<\/p>\n

Sports Roundup<\/p>\n

Get the latest D-FW sports news, analysis and opinion delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, Kevin Sherrington’s A La Carte.<\/p>\n

By signing up, you agree to our\u00a0Terms of Service<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n

How to watch<\/p>\n

When: Tuesday, 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

Where: American Airlines Center in Dallas<\/p>\n

TV\/Streaming: Victory+<\/p>\n

Radio: Sportsradio 96.7\/1310 The Ticket<\/p>\n

Battle of the NHL\u2019s best<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s game is a matchup of the two best teams in hockey based on record. The Stars\u2019 85 points on the season are second only to the Avalanche\u2019s 91 points.<\/p>\n

Chasing down Colorado in the Central Division is a lofty task for Dallas to complete given Colordado\u2019s quality and how little season is left. If the Stars have designs on closing the six-point gap that exists between the teams in the final quarter of the season, Friday\u2019s bout is massively important.<\/p>\n

Post-deadline additions<\/p>\n

Both teams have had busy trade deadlines.<\/p>\n

The Stars landed defenseman Tyler Myers<\/a> and left winger Michael Bunting<\/a> to shore up their blue line and add some much-needed scoring depth. Meanwhile, Colorado sent a conditional fifth-round pick and a top-10-protected first rounder in the 2027 draft to Toronto for Nicolas Roy, who will slide in as the No. 3 center.<\/p>\n

The Avalanche have also added defensemen Brett Kulak and Nick Blankenburg.<\/p>\n

Kulak has been playing for Colorado, but given the recency of the other deals, it\u2019s unclear if all the teams\u2019 deadline prizes will suit up on Friday night. One thing is clear: Dallas and Colorado each pushed their chips in for a Stanley Cup at the trade deadline.<\/p>\n

Glen Gulutzan says Stars have had Friday\u2019s bout with Avalanche circled all season<\/a>Friday\u2019s TV\/Radio listings (March 6)<\/a><\/p>\n

Find more Stars coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Dallas Stars will put their franchise-record 10-game winning streak on the line Friday night when they welcome…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":489149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5117],"tags":[196,147,5278,5,2603,4,197],"class_list":{"0":"post-489148","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas-stars","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-stars","10":"tag-dallasstars","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-how-to-watch","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-stars"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116182540965940358","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/489149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}