The NHL playoffs begin on April 19, in less than three weeks, and several division titles and wild-card spots remain up for grabs.

• Three teams are jostling for the Atlantic Division crown, with Toronto ahead of Florida and Tampa Bay by three points.

• Five teams are pushing for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. The Montreal Canadiens are in that spot right now, holding the tiebreaker over the New York Rangers. Columbus, the New York Islanders and Detroit are within two or three points.

• Winnipeg and Dallas have clinched spots in the Central Division. But the Stars are within six points of the division lead, thanks to a five-game winning streak.

• The St. Louis Blues are on a nine-game winning streak and are level with the Minnesota Wild in points. Both teams are in wild-card positions in the Western Conference. Vancouver (six points back) and Calgary (seven points) remain in the race.

As we inch closer to the postseason, it isn’t too early to start looking at which teams might meet in the first round. Here’s how things looked Monday morning:

Eastern Conference

M1 Washington (103 points) vs. WC2 Montreal (77 points)

M2 Carolina (94 points) vs. M3 New Jersey (85 points)

A1 Toronto (94 points) vs. WC1 Ottawa (84 points)

A2 Tampa Bay (91 points) vs. A3 Florida (91 points)

Other contenders: NY Rangers (77 points), Columbus (75), NY Islanders (74), Detroit (74)

(M1) Washington Capitals vs. (WC2) Montreal Canadiens

It’s a first-round rematch 15 years in the making. If we get this, Washington will hope to exact revenge on the Canadiens, who upset the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Caps in 2010. The circumstances would be the same in this scenario, even though many didn’t peg the Capitals as the league’s best team at the beginning of this season. But Spencer Carbery’s coaching job likely will earn him the Jack Adams Award.

The Caps are deep with prominent talents. Alex Ovechkin, of course, is still scoring goals and is marching toward Wayne Gretzky’s career record. Dylan Strome, Aliaksei Protas, Jakob Chychrun and Logan Thompson also are leading the way, and that’s with Tom Wilson and John Carlson playing well, too. The Canadiens are no slouches, however. They get goals from the top line of Nick Suzuki, Juraj Slafkovsky and Cole Caufield, and their second line of Christian Dvorak, Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher has been solid.

Remaining schedules:

Washington (nine games): at Boston (Tuesday), at Carolina (Wednesday), vs. Chicago (Friday), at NY Islanders (Sunday), vs. Carolina (April 10), at Columbus (April 12), vs. Columbus (April 13), at NY Islanders (April 15), at Pittsburgh (April 17)

Montreal (nine games): vs. Florida (Tuesday), vs. Boston (Thursday), vs. Philadelphia (Saturday), at Nashville (Sunday), vs. Detroit (April 8), at Ottawa (April 11), at Toronto (April 12), vs. Chicago (April 14), vs. Carolina (April 16)

(M2) Carolina Hurricanes vs. (M3) New Jersey Devils

The Hurricanes have been one of the league’s best teams all season, with or without Mikko Rantanen. They came out of the brief Rantanen era pretty well, amassing draft capital and Logan Stankoven for future playoff pushes. Carolina plays a good brand of hockey, committing to defense — they’re top five in goals allowed — while getting quality offense up and down their lineup and winning battles at five-on-five. Carolina has the best Corsi rating at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.

They’d be favored against the New Jersey Devils, who may have done just enough to stave off other Metropolitan teams. The Devils might get a healed Dougie Hamilton back for the playoffs, but they won’t get Jack Hughes due to injury. There will be pressure on Devils goalie Jacob Markstrom to deliver and improve on his .900 save percentage for the season so far.

Remaining schedules:

Carolina (nine games): vs. Washington (Wednesday), at Detroit (Friday), at Boston (Saturday), at Buffalo (April 8), at Washington (April 10), vs. NY Rangers (April 12), vs. Toronto (April 13), at Montreal (April 16), at Ottawa (April 17)

New Jersey (seven games): vs. Minnesota (Monday), vs. NY Rangers (Saturday), vs. Boston (April 8), vs. Pittsburgh (April 11), vs. NY Islanders (April 13), at Boston (April 15), vs. Detroit (April 16)

(A1) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (WC1) Ottawa Senators

The Battle of Ontario will captivate the hockey world’s attention if it happens. The provincial rivalry is reason enough to tune in. But these two sides haven’t met in the playoffs in 21 years. On paper, the Maple Leafs have reason to fear the Senators: they lost the regular-season series against them, with Ottawa playing a tight defensive style.

But in a best-of-seven series, in which teams can focus on one opponent the whole time, there is no guarantee the Senators’ winning ways would continue. That’s the beauty of a long series: teams get opportunities to adjust. That said, the Maple Leafs have been favorites in first-round series before and lost. And fans have every reason to be nervous against any opponent, not just the Senators. There’s something at stake with this core, too.

Remaining schedules:

Toronto (eight games): vs. Florida (Wednesday), vs. Columbus (Saturday), at Florida (April 8), at Tampa Bay (April 9), vs. Montreal (April 12), at Carolina (April 13), at Buffalo (April 15), vs. Detroit (April 17)

Ottawa (nine games): vs. Buffalo (Tuesday), vs. Tampa Bay (Thursday), vs. Florida (Saturday), vs. Columbus (Sunday), at Columbus (April 8), vs. Montreal (April 11), vs. Philadelphia (April 13), vs. Chicago (April 15), vs. Carolina (April 17)

(A2) Tampa Bay Lightning vs. (A3) Florida Panthers

The Lightning are still good, if you didn’t know. Since the beginning of February, they’ve won 16 of 22 games. The Bolts have a plus-69 goal differential, third-best in the league behind Winnipeg and Washington. Nikita Kucherov is tussling with Nathan MacKinnon for a second consecutive Art Ross Trophy win. The Lightning are heating up at the right time, and not many teams would want to face them in a playoff series.

But the Panthers might have something to say about that. They snapped Tampa Bay’s eight-game win streak earlier this season and got the better of their in-state rivals in the playoffs last year. Yes, the closeness of the Atlantic Division means this matchup (just like the Battle of Ontario matchup) isn’t a guarantee. But who would say no to another Battle of the Sunshine State?

Remaining schedules:

Tampa Bay (nine games): at NY Islanders (Tuesday), at Ottawa (Thursday), at Buffalo (Saturday), at NY Rangers (April 7), vs. Toronto (April 9), vs. Detroit (April 11), vs. Buffalo (April 13), vs. Florida (April 15), at NY Rangers (April 17)

Florida (nine games): at Montreal (Tuesday), at Toronto (Wednesday), at Ottawa (Saturday), at Detroit (Sunday), vs. Toronto (April 8), vs. Detroit (April 10), vs. Buffalo (April 12), vs. NY Rangers (April 14), at Tampa Bay (April 15)

Western Conference

C1 Winnipeg (106 points) vs. WC2 St. Louis (87 points)

C2 Dallas (100 points) vs. C3 Colorado (93 points)

P1 Vegas (98 points) vs. WC1 Minnesota (87 points)

P2 Los Angeles (91 points) vs. P3 Edmonton (89 points)

Other contenders: Vancouver (81 points), Calgary (80)

(C1) Winnipeg Jets vs. (WC2) St. Louis Blues

It is difficult to be the best team in the league from the beginning of the season until the end. But the Jets have been that good since the first puck drop. Connor Hellebuyck is an MVP candidate, while Kyle Connor and Mark Scheifele are both flirting with 40-goal seasons. The Jets have a lot to prove after a disappointing opening-round loss last year to Colorado.

The Blues are the league’s hottest team, with a nine-game win streak. The Blues have some heavyweights left on their schedule, including the Jets, but they’re still likely to enter the playoffs as one of the hottest teams to end the season. With St. Louis and Minnesota tied on points, this matchup isn’t set in stone yet.

Remaining schedules:

Winnipeg (eight games): at Los Angeles (Tuesday), at Vegas (Thursday), at Utah (Saturday), vs. St. Louis (April 7), at Dallas (April 10), at Chicago (April 12), vs. Edmonton (April 13), vs. Anaheim (April 16)

St. Louis (seven games): vs. Detroit (Tuesday), vs. Pittsburgh (Thursday), vs. Colorado (Saturday), at Winnipeg (April 7), at Edmonton (April 9), at Seattle (April 12), vs. Utah (April 15)

(C2) Dallas Stars vs. (C3) Colorado Avalanche

These two Cup-contending teams are on a collision course. This was an intriguing possibility well before Rantanen joined Dallas ahead of the trade deadline. Of all the projected first-round matchups, this one might feature the most firepower on either side. The Avs are one of the top three teams at five-on-five, armed with an MVP candidate in MacKinnon, plus Cale Makar and more. And that’s after they remade their goaltending and added to their forward core with Marty Necas and Jack Drury.

Dallas would counter with Rantanen, Wyatt Johnston, Jason Robertson, Jamie Benn and Jake Oettinger. There’s also Miro Heiskanen, but he might not return for the first round. Still, Dallas could have enough to punch back against the Avs. If things remain as they are, this could be the marquee matchup of the Western Conference.

Remaining schedules:

Dallas (nine games): at Seattle (Monday), vs. Nashville (Thursday), vs. Pittsburgh (Saturday), at Minnesota (Sunday), vs. Vancouver (April 8), vs. Winnipeg (April 10), vs. Utah (April 12), at Detroit (April 14), at Nashville (April 16)

Colorado (eight games): vs. Calgary (Monday), at Chicago (Wednesday), at Columbus (Thursday), at St. Louis (Saturday), vs. Vegas (April 8), vs. Vancouver (April 10), at Los Angeles (April 12), at Anaheim (April 13)

(P1) Vegas Golden Knights vs. (WC1) Minnesota Wild

The Golden Knights are contenders. Yes, again. It’s been a constant since they entered the league in 2017. They’re trending toward the Pacific Division crown while boasting top-five offense and defense. And Jack Eichel is close to his first-ever 100-point season. Vegas could find itself back in the Cup Final again.

The Wild, meanwhile, are hoping to get Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek back sooner than later. They’ll need them in any playoff series, let alone against Vegas. Filip Gustavsson’s goalie workload was packed enough this year, but he’s still holding it down with a 2.51 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage. He would be important in a postseason series against Vegas. Of course, it could be St. Louis or another wild-card team in this spot.

Remaining schedules:

Vegas (nine games): vs. Edmonton (Tuesday), vs. Winnipeg (Thursday), at Calgary (Saturday), at Vancouver (Sunday), at Colorado (April 8), vs. Seattle (April 10), vs. Nashville (April 12), at Calgary (April 15), at Vancouver (April 16)

Minnesota (eight games): at New Jersey (Monday), at NY Rangers (Wednesday), at NY Islanders (Friday), vs. Dallas (Sunday), vs. San Jose (April 9), at Calgary (April 11), at Vancouver (April 12), vs. Anaheim (April 15)

(P2) Los Angeles Kings vs. (P3) Edmonton Oilers

We could see Los Angeles-Edmonton for the fourth consecutive year, but this might be Los Angeles’ best chance at upending last year’s Western Conference champions. The Kings are one of the best teams at home and Darcy Kuemper has been a quality goaltender — maybe even Vezina Trophy level if not for Hellebuyck — with a 2.10 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage. In this scenario, they’d have a home-ice advantage for the first time in the four matchups against the Oilers.

Once the playoffs start, however, the Oilers should have Connor McDavid healthy. With McDavid and Draisaitl, the Oilers remain Western Conference favorites for many. Both teams are also brilliant at five-on-five, so this series has the potential to go the distance.

Remaining schedules:

Los Angeles (nine games): vs. Winnipeg (Tuesday), at Utah (Thursday), vs. Edmonton (Saturday), vs. Seattle (April 7), vs. Anaheim (April 10), vs. Colorado (April 12), at Edmonton (April 14), at Seattle (April 15), vs. Calgary (April 17)

Edmonton (nine games): at Vegas (Tuesday), at San Jose (Thursday), at Los Angeles (Saturday), at Anaheim (April 7), vs. St. Louis (April 9), vs. San Jose (April 11), at Winnipeg (April 13), vs. Los Angeles (April 14), at San Jose (April 16)

(Photo of Toronto’s Mitch Marner and Ottawa’s Shane Pinto: Dan Hamilton / Imagn Images)