Blackhawks at Panthers preview

BLACKHAWKS (28-28-8) at PANTHERS (33-25-6)
6 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-F, NBCSCH+, NHL.TV

The Panthers, 4-8-1 in their past 13 games after going 7-1-0 in their previous eight, trail the Toronto Maple Leafs by four points for third place in the Atlantic Division and trail the Columbus Blue Jackets by the same margin for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the East.
Florida will look to end a five-game home losing streak; it has not won at BB&T Center since a 4-3 victory against the Los Angeles on Jan. 16.
The Blackhawks, 4-8-2 in their past 14 games following a five-game winning streak, trail the Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets by eight points for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.
This will be Florida coach Joel Quenneville's second game against his former team; the Panthers won 4-3 at United Center on Jan. 21.

Players to watch

Blackhawks rookie forward Dominik Kubalik, who had his first NHL hat trick in a 5-2 win at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday, leads Chicago with 29 goals.
Panthers forward Mike Hoffman has eight points (five goals, three assists) in a six-game point streak, including one goal in four straight games.

They said it

"We went through a period where we were getting results pretty consistently, put a good run together, and then we went through a stretch where we weren't getting results even though I think we were playing pretty good. We've just got to stick with it. And that's what we need to continue to build on." -- Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton
"We need to respond to the loss at home there [a 5-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday] and get some wins here on home ice. Everyone needs to focus on what they can do to get ready for tonight." -- Panthers forward Colton Sceviour

Blackhawks projected lineup

Dominik Kubalik -- Jonathan Toews -- Brandon Saad
Alex Nylander -- Dylan Strome -- Patrick Kane
Alex DeBrincat -- Kirby Dach -- Drake Caggiula
Matthew Highmore -- David Kampf -- Ryan Carpenter
Duncan Keith -- Adam Boqvist
Olli Maatta -- Slater Koekkoek
Lucas Carlsson -- Connor Murphy
Corey Crawford
Malcolm Subban
Scratched: Nick Seeler, Brandon Hagel
Injured: Calvin de Haan (shoulder), Brent Seabrook (shoulder/hip), Andrew Shaw (concussion protocol), Zack Smith (back)

Panthers projected lineup

Jonathan Huberdeau -- Aleksander Barkov -- Evgenii Dadonov
Mike Hoffman -- Erik Haula -- Frank Vatrano
Aleksi Saarela -- Lucas Wallmark -- Brett Connolly
Colton Sceviour -- Noel Acciari -- Mark Pysyk
MacKenzie Weegar -- Aaron Ekblad
Riley Stillman -- Anton Stralman
Keith Yandle -- Mike Matheson
Sergei Bobrovsky
Sam Montembeault
Scratched: Josh Brown, Dominic Toninato
Injured: Chris Driedger (lower body), Brian Boyle (upper body)

Status report

Hagel, a forward, was recalled from Rockford of the American Hockey League on an emergency basis Saturday. … Shaw and Smith will each be out the rest of the season for Chicago.

Stat pack

Crawford has an 8-2-0 record with a 1.77 goals-against average, .939 save percentage and two shutouts in 11 games against Florida. … Barkov, with 155 NHL goals, is two shy of tying Scott Mellanby for second place in Panthers history; Olli Jokinen is Florida's all-time leader with 188 goals.