Wranglers scoring leader Derek Edwardson, right, is coming off a hat trick Friday night against the Bakersfield Condors, and the two ECHL contenders will meet again tonight at the Orleans Arena. Photo by Ralph Fountain.

The ECHL playoffs don't begin until the second week of April, but a postseason atmosphere is likely to arrive early to the Orleans Arena.

The Wranglers have seven regular-season games remaining, six at home, and the next three are at the Orleans against their top competition in the Pacific Division and National Conference.

Riding a six-game winning streak, Pacific-leading Las Vegas (39-12-14, 92 points) will host second-place Bakersfield (40-15-10, 90 points) at 7 p.m. today. On Friday and Saturday, ECHL-leading Alaska (46-15-6, 98 points) comes to town.

If the Wranglers sweep all three games in regulation, they would pull even with Alaska for the best record and have a shot at securing the No. 1 playoff seed during the final week of the regular season.

"First things first. We're just trying to focus on our game with Bakersfield because we're battling for first place," Las Vegas coach Glen Gulutzan said. "This is a big game, because we'd certainly like to take first in our division. That's what we're concentrating on."

Las Vegas won Friday at Bakersfield, 6-3, with team scoring leader Derek Edwardson notching a hat trick. The teams have split the season series, 3-3.

"We got a few bounces in that game, but we worked hard and played well," Gulutzan said. "They're going to come out firing and it should be exciting."

Edwardson has 63 points (24 goals, 39 assists) in 62 games and has clicked with linemates Shawn Limpright and Steve Crampton, who is second on the team with 54 points.

"We've been getting a lot of chances and a lot of them happened to go in the last game," Edwardson said. "We've been playing well lately. But we've got probably one of the toughest stretches of the year coming up, so it should be a good test to get us going before the playoffs.

"It's all in our hands and that's really all you can ask for at this time of the year. It's up to us, so we don't have to watch the scoreboard."

The Wranglers are 21-5-9 at home, and goalie Kevin Nastiuk (15-8-6, 2.53 goals-against average) said securing home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs would be huge.

"Everyone in our dressing room is aware of (the standings)," said Nastiuk, who is 11-5-4 with a 2.12 GAA and .927 save percentage since January. "At the start of the year, something you strive for is having the best record in the league, and now we've given ourselves a chance to do it."

The Wranglers appear to be peaking at the right time.

"We are playing some good hockey right now," Gulutzan said. "We've played good hockey throughout the year, but we're just now putting games together back to back, which is important and what we need to do (tonight) as well."