The Dallas Stars were one of the premier teams in the National Hockey League throughout the 2024-25 campaign — but things have gone off the rails at the last. Not only did the Stars lose each of their last seven regular season games, but they also potentially lost star forward Jason Robertson to injury in a meaningless 5-1 loss to the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night.

Robertson left the game early in the second period with a lower-body injury after being hit awkwardly into the boards by Preds winger Michael McCarron. The superstar didn't return to the game, and head coach Pete DeBoer didn't have an update afterwards.

“The purpose of resting people down the stretch was to hopefully avoid injury and unfortunately we didn’t do that with the Robertson injury,” DeBoer said after the game, per team reporter Mike Heika. “So, tough night.”

Predators reporter Emma Lingan confirmed that Robertson left Bridgestone Arena with a brace on his right knee.

“Still looks to be in quite a lot of pain,” she wrote on X.

If Robertson is forced to miss any time, it would be the worst-case scenario for a Stars team that has somehow allowed 34 goals in seven games. Dallas was on a seven-game winning streak on April 3, but hasn't picked up a victory since.

Robertson has been excellent in 2024-25, playing all 82 games for a third straight time and scoring 35 goals and 80 points in that span. The 25-year-old has emerged into the team's best forward, and he's now in jeopardy of being out of the lineup against a Colorado Avalanche team that has rested its best players for the better part of a week.

Stars preparing for heavyweight tilt with Avalanche in Round 1

The Avalanche finished their regular season before any other team, playing games No. 81 and 82 on the road in Los Angeles last Saturday and Anaheim on Sunday, respectively.

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Neither Cale Makar nor Nathan MacKinnon made the trip, and along with a couple other regulars, will have more than a week off before Game 1 in Texas on Saturday night.

Although the Stars will have home-ice advantage after finishing second in the Central Division with a 50-26-6 record, it looks like two teams that are going in completely different directions ahead of the playoffs.

The Avs won eight of their last 13 and will be fully healthy heading into the postseason. They could even have captain Gabriel Landeskog back, who hasn't played in the NHL since Game 6 of the 2022 Stanley Cup Final.

The silver lining for the Stars is that Tyler Seguin, who missed 58 games following hip surgery, returned to the lineup against Nashville. He recorded an assist and played just under 15 minutes in his return.

There are storylines aplenty ahead of one of the best matchups of the first round, including Mikko Rantanen playing against his former team. It'll be interesting to see if Robertson will be an option for the start of the series.

Puck is set to drop for Game 1 of Avalanche-Stars just past 8:30 p.m. ET from American Airlines Center on Saturday.