With Mikko Rantanen sidelined, Avalanche host Stars

The Colorado Avalanche are facing a near-must-win game if they want to capture the Central Division title, but that isn't the most important issue for them.

When Colorado (48-23-6, 102 points) hosts division-leading Dallas on Sunday night in Denver, the Stars (48-20-9, 105 points) can all but sew up the Central and move closer to getting the top seed overall in the Western Conference.

Dallas had its eight-game winning streak snapped with a 3-2 loss to lowly Chicago on Saturday afternoon. The streak vaulted the Stars to the top of the division with five games remaining, but Saturday's loss left an opening for the Avalanche or the Winnipeg Jets.

Tyler Seguin, who missed the game against the Blackhawks for maintenance, is expected to play Sunday night.

Colorado's Mikko Rantanen, however, left Friday night's 6-2 loss at Edmonton after taking a hit from Mattias Ekholm early in the second period and didn't return. The team announced Rantanen has an upper-body injury and could miss significant time.

"He will be under evaluation for a while," Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said.

Rantanen is second on the team in goals (40) and third in assists (62). He has played most of the season on the first line with Nathan MacKinnon, who is second in the NHL in scoring with 131 points (48 goals and 83 assist).

Rantanen's injury occurred in the same game that Colorado saw the return of forward Valeri Nichushkin after a four-game absence. Bednar has options for the first line, including moving Artturi Lehkonen or Nichushkin up from the second line to play alongside MacKinnon and Jonathan Drouin.

The Avalanche will need someone to fill the void and slow the surging Stars. Colorado, which has won the first three games of the season series, rallied from multi-goal deficits in both games in Dallas and won 5-1 in Denver on Feb. 27.

Stars coach Peter DeBoer said before Saturday's loss that Sunday is "our biggest game of the year" and probably more so after failing to beat a Blackhawks team that is deep in the Central Division cellar.

After Sunday, Dallas will have its last four games at home — three against teams out of the playoff picture — while Colorado will finish with games against Minnesota, Winnipeg, at Vegas and against Edmonton.

With Seguin out it gave an opportunity for Mavrik Bourque to make his NHL debut Saturday afternoon. He logged 10:56 of ice time and had two shots on goal in his first game.

"I can't think of somebody more deserving or who has done it right like he has," DeBoer said. "He's gone and spent basically two full years in the American (Hockey) League, had a good year last year. Came to camp, had a good camp. [We] gave him some things to work on, and he went back and has been the best player in that league this year, which is the kind of development you want to see."

—Field Level Media