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Playoff bubble watch — Dallas Stars edition

Stars win

With the NHL playoff race getting down to the wire, we’ll be providing regular updates on each bubble team’s postseason push.

On the bubble: Dallas Stars

Where they stand: 3rd in the West (first in the Pacific Division), one point clear of 9th-place San Jose, but with a game in hand

Games remaining: 5

SportsClubStats.com says: 82.5% chance of making the playoffs

Why they’ll get in:

There’s only one team they need to outlast, most likely stumbling San Jose. (Calgary and Colorado are technically still alive, but only technically.) Plus there’s always the chance the Kings or Coyotes choke. The Stars have won three of their last five and have one of the NHL’s better records over the past month, so confidence shouldn’t be an issue.

Why they won’t:

A brutal schedule – at Vancouver, at San Jose, home to San Jose, at Nashville, home to St. Louis. A .500 record in their last five games might get it done, depending how the Sharks games go, but there are no easy points there.

Quotable:

“We have a tough road right to the end of the season, and hopefully we will be in the mix when the dust settles a week or so from now. It’s cliché, but you can only take it one game at a time. – Stars defenseman Sheldon Souray

Key game coming up:

Saturday in San Jose