Panthers at Rangers preview

PANTHERS (7-6-3) at RANGERS (9-8-2)
7 p.m. ET; NHLN, MSG, FS-F, NHL.TV

Hoffman's run of 14 games (16 points; seven goals, nine assists) broke the Panthers record of 13 set by Pavel Bure in 1999-00 and is the longest in the NHL this season.
Goalie Henrik Lundqvist is likely to start for the Rangers. Lundqvist has 437 wins in the NHL (60 via shootout), one from passing Jacques Plante (437-246, 145 ties) for seventh place on the NHL wins list. Terry Sawchuk (445-336, 171 ties) is sixth.
New York acquired forward Ryan Strome in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers for forward Ryan Spooner on Friday. General manager Jeff Gorton said it's possible that Strome could debut against the Panthers.

Players to watch

Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle has nine points (three goals, six assists) in his past nine games.
Forward Chris Kreider leads the Rangers in goals (10) and power-play goals (four). He's scored 10 goals within the first 19 games of a season for the first time in his seven NHL seasons and has eight points (six goals, two assists) in his past eight games.

They said it

"They're a new-school team. They play hard. They're fast. They're a team that we know we have to bring it for 60 minutes. You can't have any lulls in your game." -- Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle
"The fact that he can play center, that he can play wing, that he can play on the power play, that he can kill penalties, he can take face-offs, I think he brings a little bit of everything, and with our group right now, having somebody who can play in all different areas of the game, I think he can help us." -- Rangers GM Jeff Gorton on Ryan Strome

Panthers projected lineup

Evgenii Dadonov -- Aleksander Barkov -- Mike Hoffman
Jonathan Huberdeau -- Vincent Trocheck -- Frank Vatrano
Maxim Mamin -- Jared McCann -- Nick Bjugstad
Colton Sceviour -- Juho Lammikko -- Troy Brouwer
Mike Matheson -- Aaron Ekblad
Keith Yandle -- Mark Pysyk
Bogdan Kiselevich -- MacKenzie Weegar
Roberto Luongo
James Reimer
Scratched: Denis Malgin, Alexander Petrovic
Injured: Derek MacKenzie (shoulder), Jamie McGinn (back)

Rangers projected lineup

Filip Chytil -- Mika Zibanejad -- Mats Zuccarello
Chris Kreider -- Kevin Hayes -- Vladislav Namestnikov
Jimmy Vesey -- Brett Howden -- Jesper Fast
Cody McLeod -- Lias Andersson -- Vinni Lettieri
Brendan Smith -- Tony DeAngelo
Marc Staal -- Neal Pionk
Fredrik Claesson -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Henrik Lundqvist
Alexandar Georgiev
Scratched: Brady Skjei, Ryan Strome
Injured: Adam McQuaid (lower body), Pavel Buchnevich (broken thumb)

Status report

Mamin and Pysyk replace Malgin and Petrovic for Florida. … Smith skated with DeAngelo, and Skjei rotated with Claesson and Shattenkirk, at Rangers practice Friday. Coach David Quinn wouldn't say if Smith would return after three games as a healthy scratch. … McQuaid skated on his own for the first time since he was injured Oct. 25.

Stat pack

Dadonov (14 points; seven goals, seven assists) has points in 13 of his past 14 games. … Pionk has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past six games.