Panthers at Avalanche preview

PANTHERS (27-25-8) at AVALANCHE (27-24-11)
9 p.m. ET; ALT, FS-F, NHL.TV

The Panthers are 4-1-0 in their past five games and 10-5-0 in their past 15, but they are 10 points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Avalanche acquired center Derick Brassard and a conditional sixth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft from the Panthers earlier Monday for a 2020 third-round pick. Colorado has won four straight and is 5-1-0 in its past six games following an eight-game losing streak (0-5-3). The Avalanche are one point behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.

Players to watch

Panthers center Aleksander Barkov has 11 points (six goals, five assists) during a four-game point streak. He has 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games.
Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov is 4-1-0 in his past five starts with a 1.41 goals-against average, a .958 save percentage and one shutout. He was named the NHL's First Star for the week ending Feb. 24 after going 3-0-0 with a 1.34 goals-against average,.964 save percentage and one shutout.

They said it

"These are important points. I assume it's going to be a playoff kind of atmosphere. These games are huge for both teams. We're not out of it either. We know we have a big job to do." - Panthers coach Bob Boughner
"We control our own destiny and we're excited to keep playing good hockey and to get some more wins." - Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon

Panthers projected lineup

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

Avalanche projected lineup

Alex Kerfoot -- Nathan MacKinnon -- Sven Andrighetto
J.T. Compher -- Carl Soderberg - Mikko Rantanen
Gabriel Landeskog -- Tyson Jost --
Sheldon Dries
A.J. Greer --
Andrew Agozzino
-- J.T. Compher
Samuel Girard -- Erik Johnson
Patrik Nemeth -- Tyson Barrie
Ryan Graves
-- Nikita Zadorov
Semyon Varlamov
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched:Mark Barberio, Gabriel Bourque, Derick Brassard
Injured:Ian Cole (broken orbital bone), Vladislav Kamenev (shoulder), Matt Nieto (lower body), Colin Wilson (upper body)

Status report

The Panthers acquired forward Cliff Pu from the Carolina Hurricanes for future considerations. Pu will report to Springfield of the American Hockey League … Cole skated Monday wearing a full face shield.

Stat pack

Huberdeau has eight points (four goals, four assists) in a four-game point streak … Soderberg has seven points (three goals, four assists) during a three-game point streak.