Panthers at Flames preview

PANTHERS (25-23-6) at FLAMES (30-20-8)
10 p.m. ET; CITY, SNW, FS-F, NHL.TV

Luongo has not played in the past 27 games because of a groin injury. He was activated from injured reserve Wednesday and backed up James Reimer in a 4-3 win at the Vancouver Canucks.
Florida is 6-1-0 in the past seven games, including four straight road wins. The Panthers are eight points behind the New York Islanders for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference with six games in hand.
Goaltender David Rittich will make his third straight start for the Flames in the absence of Mike Smith, who is out with a lower-body injury sustained in Calgary's 3-2 win at the Islanders on Sunday. The Flames are 5-2-0 in their past seven games to follow a six-game losing streak (0-2-4). They lead the Anaheim Ducks by one point for third place in the Pacific Division.

Players to watch

Florida forward Vincent Trocheck has 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in his past 13 games.
Calgary forward Matthew Tkachuk has five points (four goals, one assist) in his past four games.

They said it

"The guys are playing great right now. We want to keep it going, obviously, and you don't want to be the guy to come in and ruin that for them. At the same time, I've been feeling good about where I am the last few days and I feel like I'm ready to go." -- Panthers goaltender Roberto Luongo
"They're playing real well. They're fighting to get in too. It'll be a real good game. Honestly, most games in the league…there's a lot of teams in the hunt and most games matter." -- Flames captain Mark Giordano

Panthers projected lineup

Evgenii Dadonov -- Aleksander Barkov -- Nick Bjugstad
Jonathan Huberdeau -- Vincent Trocheck -- Denis Malgin
Jamie McGinn -- Jared McCann -- Radim Vrbata
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, Maxim Mamin, Ian McCoshen
Injured: None

Flames projected lineup

Johnny Gaudreau -- Sean Monahan -- Micheal Ferland
Matthew Tkachuk -- Mikael Backlund -- Michael Frolik
Sam Bennett -- Mark Jankowski -- Garnet Hathaway
Ryan Lomberg -- Matt Stajan -- Curtis Lazar
Mark Giordano -- Dougie Hamilton
TJ Brodie -- Travis Hamonic
Brett Kulak -- Michael Stone
David Rittich
Jon Gillies
Scratched: Morgan Klimchuk, Matt Bartkowksi
Injured: Kris Versteeg (hip), Troy Brouwer (upper body), Mark Hrivik (undisclosed), Mike Smith (lower body)

Status report

The Panthers held an optional skate. …Klimchuk was recalled from Stockton of the American Hockey League, and Hrivik was placed on injured reserve Saturday morning.

Stat pack

Ekblad has seven points (three goals, four assists) in a five-game point streak. …Gaudreau has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) in an eight-game point streak. Hamilton will play his 400th NHL game.