Panthers at Stars preview

PANTHERS (32-28-12) at STARS (37-29-6)
8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, FS-F, NHL.TV

Bishop sustained a lower-body injury in a 4-1 win against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday and missed the past two games. He has a shutout streak of 230:53, which is the longest in Dallas/Minnesota North Stars history.
The Stars are two points behind the St. Louis Blues for third place in the Central Division and hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, two points ahead of the Arizona Coyotes. They are 0-1-1 on a five-game homestand after going 6-1-0 in their previous seven games.
The Panthers are eight points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. They are 4-1-0 in their past five games after going 0-2-4 in their previous six.

Players to watch

Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov has 15 points (two goals, 13 assists) in a six-game point streak.
Stars forward Tyler Seguin had three points (two goals, one assist) in a 3-0 win against the Panthers on Feb. 12 but hasn't scored in eight games. He leads the team with 27 goals, 38 assists and 65 points.
They said it
"The guys are playing hard in front of him. He's giving us a chance to win every night and deserves to still be in there." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner on a sixth straight start for rookie goalie Sam Montembeault
"Just getting back out there and get back in the swing of things. It's only been a few days, so I'm not too worried." -- Stars goalie Ben Bishop on returning after missing the past two games with a lower-body injury

Panthers projected lineup

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

Stars projected lineup

Mattias Janmark -- Tyler Seguin -- Alexander Radulov
Jamie Benn -- Roope Hintz -- Joel L'Esperance
Andrew Cogliano -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau
Valeri Nichushkin -- Jason Dickinson -- Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen -- Roman Polak
Jamie Oleksiak -- Ben Lovejoy
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched:Julius Honka, Jason Spezza, Taylor Fedun
Injured:Stephen Johns (upper body), Marc Methot (lower body), Martin Hanzal (back), Tyler Pitlick (upper body), Mats Zuccarello (arm)

Status report

Spezza, a 35-year-old forward, is a healthy scratch for the first time since Jan. 15, 2018 and for the second time in his NHL career. … Fedun will be out because of a death in the family. ... Keeper, who was signed to an entry-level contract on Monday, will not play.

Stat pack

Florida is 2-1-0 on a four-game road trip. … Huberdeau has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in his past six games. … Radulov has 11 points (seven goals, four assists) in his past 11 games.