Panthers at Red Wings preview

PANTHERS (11-14-4) at RED WINGS (11-13-5)
7:30 p.m. ET; FS-F, FS-D, NHL.TV

Barkov has six points (four goals, two assists) in his past six games. He's third on the Panthers with 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists).
Goalie James Reimer will start for the Panthers after allowing five goals on 28 shots in a 7-3 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday. Reimer is 1-1-1 with a 4.53 goals-against average and .860 save percentage since Roberto Luongo was injured in a 5-4 shootout loss to the New York Islanders on Dec. 4.
The Red Wings have lost eight of their past nine games (1-5-3), including a 6-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, while being outscored 43-20.

Players to watch

Center Vincent Trocheck has seven points (two goals, five assists) in a four-game point streak. His 30 points (12 goals, 18 assists) are second on the Panthers behind forward Jonathan Huberdeau (9-22-31).
Red Wings forward Anthony Mantha had 19 points (10 goals, nine assists) in his first 19 games, but has three points (two goals, assist) in his past 10.

They said it

"This will be an important game because these are two teams that are desperate to bank some points, plus it's the start of a big road trip for us." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner
"This is a big week for us, so we need to get off to a good start tonight. We know they've got a backup goalie in and we have to get pucks on the net." -- Red Wings center Dylan Larkin

Panthers projected lineup

Jonathan Huberdeau -- Aleksander Barkov -- Nick Bjugstad
Jamie McGinn -- Vincent Trocheck -- Denis Malgin
Colton Sceviour -- Jared McCann -- Radim Vrbata
Micheal Haley -- Derek MacKenzie -- Connor Brickley
Keith Yandle -- Aaron Ekblad
Mike Matheson -- Mark Pysyk
Ian McCoshen -- Alexander Petrovic
James Reimer
Harri Sateri
Scratched:MacKenzie Weegar, Dryden Hunt
Injured: Roberto Luongo (lower body), Evgenii Dadonov (upper body)

Red Wings projected lineup

Anthony Mantha -- Dylan Larkin -- Tomas Tatar
Justin Abdelkader -- Henrik Zetterberg -- Gustav Nyquist
Luke Glendening -- Frans Nielsen -- Darren Helm
Martin Frk -- Andreas Athanasiou -- Tyler Bertuzzi
Danny DeKeyser -- Mike Green
Jonathan Ericsson -- Trevor Daley
Niklas Kronwall -- Nick Jensen
Jimmy Howard
Petr Mrazek
Scratched:Xavier Ouellet, Luke Witkowski, David Booth
Injured:None

Status report

Witkowski is eligible to play after serving a 10-game suspension for returning to the ice during a fight in Detroit's 8-2 win against the Calgary Flames on Nov. 15.

Stat pack

Huberdeau has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past two games and nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his past six. … Nyquist has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past four games.