Stars at Senators preview

STARS (38-26-7) at SENATORS (25-33-11)
7:30 p.m. ET; TSN5, RDS, FS-SW+, NHL.TV

The Stars, 0-2-1 in their past three games and 4-6-3 in their past 13, hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Western Conference, one point behind the Colorado Avalanche and one point ahead of the Anaheim Ducks. Colorado has a game in hand on Dallas and Anaheim.
Goaltender Ben Bishop will start for the first time since missing five games with a knee injury, sustained in a 3-2 overtime loss against the Senators on March 5.
Goaltender Craig Anderson will start for Ottawa, which seeks its third straight win and fifth in eight games (4-2-1). The Senators trail the New Jersey Devils by 19 points for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.

Players to watch

Stars forward Tyler Seguin has 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games.
Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson has 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in his past eight games.

They said it

"We would have died to have this in September, and we got it … We knew it was going to be a fight to the end and I told the players, 'We've just got to stay in the race until we get home.' We've got a great schedule when we get home." -- Stars coach Ken Hitchcock, on Dallas being halfway through a six-game road trip (0-2-1), its longest of the season
"I don't think that either one of us is really worrying about the other … He's a great player and it's nice to see that we have a lot of young Swedish defensemen coming up and doing well." -- Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson on Stars defenseman John Klingberg, who leads NHL defensemen in scoring with 58 points (seven goals, 51 assists); Karlsson, with 54 points (eight goals, 46 assists) is tied for third with Brent Burns of the San Jose Sharks

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Alexander Radulov
Antoine Roussel -- Radek Faksa -- Tyler Pitlick
Devin Shore -- Jason Dickinson -- Mattias Janmark
Remi Elie -- Jason Spezza -- Gemel Smith
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Julius Honka -- Stephen Johns
Dan Hamhuis -- Greg Pateryn
Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen
Scratched: Mike McKenna, Brett Ritchie, Dillon Heatherington
Injured:Marc Methot (hand), Martin Hanzal (back)

Senators projected lineup

Ryan Dzingel -- Matt Duchene -- Mike Hoffman
Bobby Ryan -- Jean-Gabriel Pageau -- Alexandre Burrows
Magnus Paajarvi -- Zack Smith -- Tom Pyatt
Max McCormick -- Jim O'Brien -- Marian Gaborik
Thomas Chabot -- Erik Karlsson
Ben Harpur -- Cody Ceci
Mark Borowiecki -- Fredrik Claesson
Craig Anderson
Mike Condon
Scratched:Erik Burgdoerfer](https://www.nhl.com/player/erik-burgdoerfer-8475982)
Injured: Mark Stone (lower body), Chris Wideman (hamstring)

Status report

Methot hopes to return at the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday.

Stat pack

Benn has 10 points (four goals, six assists) in his past 10 games. … Ryan is one point from 500 in the NHL.