Panthers at Coyotes preview

PANTHERS (28-25-8) at COYOTES (29-28-5)
9 p.m. ET; FS-A, FS-F, NHL.TV

The Panthers are playing the second of back-to-back games after winning 4-3 in overtime against the Colorado Avalanche on Monday. Florida has won five of six (5-1-0) but is eight points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Coyotes forward Christian Dvorak will play after being out all season with an upper-body injury. Dvorak had 15 goals and 22 assists in 78 games during the 2017-18 season.

Players to watch

Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past five games.
Coyotes forward Josh Archibald, who spent much of the season on the fourth line, has four goals in seven games and three points (two goals, one assist) during a three-game point streak.

They said it

"We know we've got a tough task at hand, but I believe in the character and heart in this room. … Finding ways to win games at this time of the year isn't easy, but I think we've done a good job of that recently." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner
" I like the way [Lawson] Crouse has developed and Archibald has played for us, and [Darcy] Kuemper comes in as the starter (when Antti Raanta was injured). We've been behind the eight-ball all year because of injuries, but guys haven't used it as an excuse." -- Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet

Panthers projected lineup

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

Coyotes projected lineup

Alex Galchenyuk -- Nick Cousins -- Clayton Keller
Lawson Crouse -- Derek Stepan -- Josh Archibald
Mario Kempe -- Brad Richardson -- Vinnie Hinostroza
Richard Panik -- Christian Dvorak -- Conor Garland
Oliver Ekman-Larsson -- Niklas Hjalmarsson
Jakob Chychrun -- Alex Goligoski
Ilya Lyubushkin -- Jordan Oesterle
Darcy Kuemper
Calvin Pickard
Scratched:Kevin Connauton, Christian Fischer
Injured:Jason Demers (lower body), Antti Raanta (lower body), Michael Grabner (upper body), Nick Schmaltz (lower body), Kyle Capobianco (lower body)

Status report

Raanta is skating on his own for the first time since being injured Nov. 27. Grabner and Demers are skating in practice.

Stat pack

Reimer is 5-3-0 with a 2.13 goals-against average, a save percentage of .926 and one shutout in eight starts against Arizona. … Barkov has 12 points (six goals, six assists) during a five-game point streak. … Kuemper has won four consecutive starts and is 6-1-0 in his past seven. … Galchenyuk has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past eight games.