We meet again, old foe.

The Avalanche and Dallas Stars on Saturday will duel at Ball Arena, a little over five months after the Stars (and Mikko Rantanen) ended Colorado’s 2024-25 season. The two teams won’t play again until March 6, 2026, and in a bizarre scheduling twist, they’ll meet three times within a 29-day span before the postseason begins.

A matchup between these teams in the postseason feels inevitable — yet again. They’re the top two teams in the division and should end up matching up in the spring for the third straight year. The goal for both teams this year has to be the same, though.

Don’t let it happen in the first round again.

The Central Division is there for the taking for one of these teams. Winnipeg, last year’s division winner, took a step back over the summer, losing one of their top forwards for nothing in free agency. They did nothing to really replace Nikolaj Ehlers, either. On top of that, they’re starting the season a little banged up, with three key players in Adam Lowry, Cole Perfetti and Dylan Samberg on injured reserve and a long way from returning.

Both the Stars and Avalanche lost players over the summer due to the cap crunch, but they are still the two most talented rosters in the division. And while it’s too early to jump to conclusions, both teams are off to strong starts.

Dallas has only played one game, but it came against Winnipeg and they dominated the Jets while playing on the road. At one point, the shots were 35-17 in favor of the Stars, who took their foot off the gas late in the game. The guy who led the way for Dallas is a familiar face the Avalanche are now going to see too often.

Rantanen, entering his first full season with the Stars, picked up three points against the Jets, finished the game with seven shot attempts and drew multiple penalties. If he’s on a mission to prove he wasn’t a product of Nathan MacKinnon, he’s off to a good start. It’s safe to assume Avalanche fans will be giving him the business every time he touches the puck on Saturday night.

Which he understands.

“Always a lot of respect for the fans and how supportive they were in 10 years here,” Rantanen said on Friday. “I’m prepared for (booing). I understand totally their view. Not a lot of Avs fans probably like the Stars, so I understand if they don’t like me. That’s how it goes, but I had a good 10 years here, so I’m happy for that.”

For as much love as the players have for Mikko as a person, they’ve long turned the page.

“I don’t know what else there is to say other than I love the guy, I loved played with him, I loved competing with him and having him on our team, and now he’s not on our team,” Gabriel Landeskog said. “So really, he’s moved on. We’ve moved on.”

For Colorado, it’s been a tale of two very different games, but the end result has been two points in each of them, which is all that matters. Jared Bednar hasn’t been terribly pleased with their even strength play through 120 minutes, something they’ll need to clean up against a good Stars team.

It’s silly to state a game this early in the season is “must win” because it just isn’t, but there’s no denying a hot start can carry a team throughout the season. The Jets last season are a perfect example. Winnipeg won 15 of its first 16 games in 2024 and never looked back, winning the division (and conference) with ease.

That’s the goal for both the Stars and Avalanche. Get that top seed and do whatever you can to avoid having to face the other in the first round again. If that happens again, one team heads home early, and the other must go through a gantlet early that could wear them out down the road.

Although it’s not a “must win,” it’s still an important game for the Avalanche.

“I don’t think anyone’s forgotten,” Brock Nelson said. “I think it’s a big one and I think that’s still fresh in a lot of memories and minds and something you use as motivation.”

What I’m hearing

• Saturday’s game against Dallas will be the 1,500th of Brent Burns’ career. When he suits up, he’ll become just the 23rd player in NHL history to hit the milestone. Burns reflected on the milestone after practice Friday.

“I think there’s a lot of luck, a lot of work, and you just got to enjoy it,” he said. “Everything’s a lot harder as you get older, but I just love it. Even a day like today, the body doesn’t feel too good, but you get going at practice, you get seeing guys, get the sweat going and just start laughing. Those are things you can’t take for granted that I think you got to enjoy.”

• While we all know Burns is going to play on Saturday, he’s not counting his chickens before they hatch.

“Still got to make it through another night, eh? You never know,” he joked.

What I’m seeing

• It’s too early to start the “they’re tanking” talk but the Sharks losing in embarrassing fashion in their first game makes you think. They failed to bury the puck on an empty net to win the game, then a few seconds later goalie Alex Nedeljkovic lets a dump-in from center ice in, allowing Vegas to tie it up. Then in overtime, Nedeljkovic comes out to play the puck at the blue line and loses it, giving the Golden Knights the win. Just a crazy way to lose a game.
• Artturi Lehkonen might be a perfect fit at even strength with Nathan MacKinnon, but it feels like a matter of time before Valeri Nichushkin or Gabriel Landeskog are put on the top power play unit as a net-front presence. Of course, it doesn’t matter who is in front of the net if the power play isn’t shooting.

What I’m thinking

• Not to toot my own horn but my “Jack Eichel for MVP” pick looks pretty good right about now. He has six points through two games and looks incredible.
• Utah might lack the truly elite talent to go on a major run, but the Mammoth looked really good against the Avalanche. Dmitry Simashev, whom they drafted sixth overall a few years back, looked awfully impressive as a 20-year-old defenseman playing his first NHL game.