Hurricanes at Panthers preview

HURRICANES (35-33-11) at PANTHERS (39-30-8)
7:30 p.m. ET; FS-SUN, FS-CR, NHL.TV

The Panthers trail the New Jersey Devils by seven points for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference with two games in hand. They open a four-game homestand after going 0-2-1 in the final three games of a four-game road trip after going 13-3-1 in their previous 17 games.
Roberto Luongo, who relieved James Reimer in a 5-1 loss at the Boston Bruins on Saturday, is scheduled to start and make his 998th NHL appearance.
The Hurricanes are playing their first game since being eliminated from playoff contention with a 2-1 loss against the New York Rangers on Saturday. Carolina is 4-2-0 in its past six games.

Players to watch

Hurricanes forward Derek Ryan has a goal and five assists during a four-game point streak.
Panthers forward Jamie McGinn has seven points (three goals, four assists) in his past seven games.

They said it

"It's the NHL. You're a pro and you've got to play hard. No one likes losing. Everyone wants to play for each other and try to get a win." - Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal
"The mindset is you can't lose any games right now. We're on the edge. Every game is really important. We've just got to come out tonight for this one and play hard." - Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau

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Hurricanes projected lineup

Valentin Zykov -- Sebastian Aho -- Teuvo Teravainen
Brock McGinn -- Jordan Staal -- Justin Williams
Jeff Skinner -- Elias Lindholm -- Phillip Di Giuseppe
Joakim Nordstrom -- Derek Ryan -- Lee Stempniak
Jaccob Slavin -- Klas Dahlbeck
Noah Hanifin -- Trevor van Riemsdyk
Haydn Fleury --
Roland McKeown
Scott Darling
Cam Ward
Scratched:None
Injured:Justin Faulk (upper body), Victor Rask (shoulder), Brett Pesce (shoulder)

Panthers projected lineup

Evgenii Dadonov -- Aleksander Barkov -- Nick Bjugstad
Jonathan Huberdeau -- Vincent Trocheck -- Jamie McGinn
Frank Vatrano -- Jared McCann -- Denis Malgin
Micheal Haley -- Derek MacKenzie -- Colton Sceviour
Keith Yandle -- Aaron Ekblad
Mike Matheson -- Mark Pysyk
MacKenzie Weegar -- Alexander Petrovic
Roberto Luongo
James Reimer
Scratched:Connor Brickley, Radim Vrbata, Maxim Mamin, Henrik Borgstrom, Ian McCoshen
Injured:None

Status report

The Hurricanes recalled McKeown from Charlotte of the American Hockey League on Sunday. … Malgin (lower body) and Vatrano (upper body) will play after missing the loss to the Bruins because of injuries.

Stat pack

Carolina and Florida are two of the five teams to have three players 25 years old or younger with at least 20 goals. The Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche and Winnipeg Jets are the others. … Carolina is 0-for-11 on the power play in its past six games. … Huberdeau needs one point to tie Rob Niedermayer (266) for eighth in franchise history.