At the Rink: Canadiens at Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Florida Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo took part in the morning skate Tuesday for the first time since sustaining a shoulder injury two weeks ago, but he'll miss his sixth consecutive game when the Panthers play the Montreal Canadiens at BB&T Center.

"It's getting a lot better," Panthers coach Gerard Gallant said of Luongo's right shoulder. "He's not 100 percent but it's getting real close. It's good to take a full morning skate and hopefully that will lead to a full practice tomorrow. [He's] getting closer and getting better but still not in tonight."

With Al Montoya still out because of a groin injury sustained after he replaced Luongo in a 3-2 home loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs on March 3, Dan Ellis will make his sixth straight start for the Panthers.

Ellis has been impressive since being recalled from the San Antonio Rampage of the American Hockey League, going 3-1-1 with a 1.95 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage.

"Dan Ellis is an experienced guy that we brought in and he did a real good job," Gallant said. "I think it makes a big difference with our players. A lot of the guys played with Dan over his career and they know he's a very capable goaltender. He gives us a chance to win every night and that's what we ask from him."

The Panthers (31-24-14) began the day six points behind the Boston Bruins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. The Bruins host the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.

Florida is coming off a 2-1 road loss against the New York Rangers on Sunday that ended its three-game winning streak. Florida lost despite outshooting New York 39-34.

The Canadiens (43-19-7) enter tied for first place in the Atlantic Division with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but with a game in hand.

Montreal did not have a morning skate after losing 4-2 at Tampa Bay on Monday.

The Panthers and Canadiens will play for the third time this season with two more games to go, March 28 at Montreal and April 5 at Florida.

The first two games each went to a shootout, with the road team winning each time. Canadiens forward Brendan Gallagher had three goals in the first two games.

Here are the projected lineups:

CANADIENS

Max Pacioretty - David Desharnais - Brendan Gallagher

Alex Galchenyuk - Tomas Plekanec - Pierre-Alexandre Parenteau

Lars Eller - Jacob De La Rose - Devante Smith-Pelly

Brandon Prust - Manny Malhotra - Dale Weise

Andrei Markov - P.K. Subban

Tom Gilbert - Jeff Petry

Alexei Emelin - Sergei Gonchar

Carey Price

Dustin Tokarski

Scratched: Mike Weaver, Greg Pateryn

Injured: Torrey Mitchell (upper body), Nathan Beaulieu (flu), Brian Flynn (upper body)

PANTHERS

Jonathan Huberdeau - Aleksander Barkov - Jaromir Jagr

Jussi Jokinen - Nick Bjugstad - Brad Boyes

Brandon Pirri - Vincent Trocheck - Jimmy Hayes

Derek MacKenzie - Dave Bolland - Scottie Upshall

Brian Campbell - Aaron Ekblad

Willie Mitchell - Erik Gudbranson

Dmitry Kulikov - Steven Kampfer

Dan Ellis

Sam Brittain

Scratched: Shawn Thornton, Tomas Kopecky, Alex Petrovic

Injured: Roberto Luongo (shoulder), Al Montoya (groin)

Status report: Flynn played 20 seconds Monday after being hit in the face by a stick. ... Price has played on both ends of back-to-back sets three times this season. ... Malhotra has been a healthy scratch the past seven games. ... Trocheck will return to the Panthers' lineup after being a healthy scratch Sunday. ... Kopecky will be a healthy scratch for a fifth consecutive game.

Who's hot: Parenteau has a goal and an assist in three games after being a healthy scratch for four games. ... Plekanec has two goals and an assist in his past two games. ... Pirri's goals against the Carolina Hurricanes and Rangers last weekend gave him 12 in his past 17 games. ... Huberdeau has two goals and six assists in his past seven games.