There’s quite the logjam in the Western Conference at the moment.

Several teams are within a three-point spread hovering around the wild card spot, including the Wild and the Calgary Flames, who face off Tuesday night at Xcel Energy Center.

Winnipeg (57 points), St. Louis (55) and Nashville (54) were the top three Central Division teams entering play Tuesday. Vegas (60), Los Angeles (53) and San Jose (48) were the top three in the Pacific.

Dallas (51) was in the first wild-card spot, and that left the second wild-card position a battle between the Wild, Colorado and Anaheim (47 each); Calgary and Chicago (46 apiece).

Wild captain Mikko Koivu said Tuesday that he probably couldn’t remember a time when the playoff race was this tight in January.

“It seems that every team is up there, and it’s very close, and one win or one loss takes teams in or out of the playoffs,” Koivu said. “That’s the way it’s going to be all the way to the end. That’s why every game is critical.”

What makes this time of year especially intriguing is the bye weeks. While about half the teams are currently on one, the Wild and the rest take off next week. So stockpiling points now becomes vital.

“Yeah, we’ve talked about it. This is a big week. It’s a big week visually, I guess,” goaltender Devan Dubnyk said Monday. “You don’t want to have to sit there next week and watch teams go past. You want them to be trying to catch up. At the end of the day, we’re in playoff mode now until the end of the season. That’s just the situation it is with how jam-packed the Western Conference is. So whether it’s a bye week or not, every game from here on out is going to be extremely important of us.”

But it seems like no matter the circumstance, all NHLers agree that points are always at a premium.

“I think that can happen any week from now on,” Calgary forward Garnet Hathaway said Tuesday before the game. “This road trip before the bye week is huge. We want to gain momentum, and this is the start of the second half tonight. We’re ready to put a charge in and really push for that playoff spot right now.”

Koivu convalesced

Koivu couldn’t stay away for long. While the center missed practice on Monday with the flu, he returned in time for morning skate Tuesday ahead of the Calgary game.

Koivu said he was feeling “good” after practice.

“It was good to get out there and get the feeling again and feel the puck and be on the skates again,” Koivu said. “That was good. Just get a good meal and a little bit of sleep and be ready to go.”

Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, for one, was happy he wouldn’t have to fill the veteran’s gap.

“It was very important that he comes out of the sick bay and gets playing,” Boudreau said. “But that’s what makes Mikko Mikko.”