NHL midseason report cards: From eight A’s to two F’s

Will it be Ben Bishop or Anton Khudobin in net for the Dallas Stars when they hit the ice in Edmonton on Wednesday in a second bid to eliminate the Colorado Avalanche from the Stanley Cup playoffs? Across the ice, will the Avalanche again turn to their third stringer, veteran journeyman Michael Hutchinson, or have No. 2 goaltender Pavel Francouz in the breach when they try to force Game 6 in the Western Conference semifinal series? Or, considering all the secrecy surrounding the NHL where nothing more than “unfit to play” is needed to explain someone’s absence, are the Avalanche going to shock everyone and put No. 1 netminder Philipp Grubauer between the pipes?

The Calgary Flames significantly upgraded their forward group this offseason, which may cause them to break up their exceptional second line.

Thick smoke that held down winds and temperatures began to clear Sunday from the scenic forestlands of Northern California as firefighters battling the largest single wildfire in state history braced for a return of fire-friendly weather. The winds weren’t expected to reach the ferocious speeds that helped the Dixie Fire explode in size last week. “The live trees that are out there now have a lower fuel moisture than you would find when you go to a hardware store or a lumber yard and get that piece of lumber that’s kiln dried,” Mark Brunton, operations section chief for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said in an online briefing Sunday morning.