Bruins at Panthers preview

BRUINS (45-20-9) at PANTHERS (33-29-12)
7 p.m. ET; FS-F, NESN, NHL.TV

The Bruins can qualify for the postseason if they win in any fashion or if they get one point and the Montreal Canadiens lose to the Buffalo Sabres in any fashion on Saturday or if the Canadiens win in a shootout.
Boston, which has won three straight and is 16-3-1 in their past 20 games, is six points ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs for second place in the Atlantic Division.
The Panthers are seven points behind the Canadiens for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Florida is 5-2-0 in its past seven games following a six-game losing streak (0-2-4).

Players to watch

Bruins forward Brad Marchand has 19 points (seven goals, 12 assists) in his past 12 games.
Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov has 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) in an eight-game point streak, including nine points (four goals, five assists) in a four-game multi-point streak.

They said it

"When they're going, they pull the rest of the guys along. It's been a bit of the story of our team [since] early in the year. Now we're seeing more secondary scoring. But they're certainly our go-to guys, they're our drivers." -- Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy on the line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak, reunited for two games since Pastrnak returned from a thumb injury
"I think they bring out the best in you. … When you play these guys you have to be ready when the puck drops. It's going to be intense, they're a heavy team and they play a certain way that sort of forces you to play that way, which is good." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner on the Bruins

Bruins projected lineup

Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk -- David Krejci -- Charlie Coyle
Danton Heinen -- Noel Acciari -- Chris Wagner
Joakim Nordstrom -- David Backes --
Karson Kuhlman
Zdeno Chara -- Charlie McAvoy
Connor Clifton -- Brandon Carlo
John Moore -- Steven Kampfer
Jaroslav Halak
Tuukka Rask
Scratched: None
Injured: Sean Kuraly (hand), Marcus Johansson (lung contusion), Torey Krug (concussion), Matt Grzelcyk (upper body), Kevan Miller (upper body)

Panthers projected lineup

Jonathan Huberdeau -- Aleksander Barkov -- Evgenii Dadonov
Mike Hoffman -- Vincent Trocheck -- Jayce Hawryluk
Frank Vatrano -- Riley Sheahan -- Troy Brouwer
Jamie McGinn -- Henrik Borgstrom -- Colton Sceviour
Mike Matheson -- Aaron Ekblad
Keith Yandle -- MacKenzie Weegar
Mark Pysyk -- Josh Brown
Sam Montembeault
Roberto Luongo
Scratched: James Reimer, Ian McCoshen, Brady Keeper, Dryden Hunt
Injured: Denis Malgin (lower body)

Status report

Kuraly will miss four weeks with a fracture in his right hand. Kuhlman was called up from Providence of the American Hockey League to replace him. … Yandle will play his 900th NHL game.

Stat pack

Huberdeau has 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in his past eight games. … Dadonov has seven points (three goals, four assists) in a four-game point streak. … Bergeron has six points (four goals, two assists) in a three-game point streak.