Panthers at Oilers preview

PANTHERS (23-23-6) AT OILERS (23-27-4)
9 p.m. ET; SNW, FS-F, NHL.TV

The Panthers are nine points behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. They won four consecutive games before a 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Friday.
The Oilers hope to avoid a fourth straight loss, which would match their longest losing streak of the season (Oct. 7-17). They trail the Minnesota Wild by 16 points for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference.

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Players to watch

Panthers forward Jonathan Huberdeau has 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in his past 15 games.
Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl has 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in his past 11 games and at least one point in five of his past six.

They said it

"For us, when we're most successful, we're playing a simple game. Our game needs to be simple at all times for us to be successful. When we start overcomplicating it, it seems that's when we start getting ourselves in trouble and giving up too many easy chances for the other team, and don't make them earn their opportunities." -- Panthers center Colton Sceviour
"I can't explain giving up the first goal 10 times on the first shot. And it's gone in different ways. It's just kind of been an ensemble of different occurrences that have created it, but we have to find a way to correct it." -- Oilers forward Mark Letestu

Panthers projected lineup

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

Oilers projected lineup

Patrick Maroon -- Connor McDavid -- Ryan Strome
Milan Lucic -- Leon Draisaitl -- Michael Cammalleri
Anton Slepyshev -- Jujhar Khaira -- Jesse Puljujarvi
Iiro Pakarinen -- Mark Letestu -- Zack Kassian
Darnell Nurse -- Brandon Davidson
Oscar Klefbom -- Kris Russell
Yohann Auvitu -- Matt Benning
Cam Talbot
Al Montoya
Scratched:Keegan Lowe
Injured:Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (upper body), Andrej Sekera (face), Drake Caggiula (face), Adam Larsson (personal)

Status report

Caggiula took part in the morning skate and is a game-time decision. He was hit in the face with a puck at the Anaheim Ducks on Friday and did not play at the San Jose Sharks the following night.

Stat pack

Yandle has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past five games … McDavid has 17 points (eight goals, nine assists) in his past 11 games.