Panthers at Flyers preview

Hart missed the past nine games with a strained lower right abdominal muscle sustained during practice Jan. 15.

Sergei Bobrovsky will start in goal for the Panthers. He'll become the 13th active goalie with 500 NHL games. Florida is 1-3-1 in its past six games after winning its previous six.

The Flyers are 7-2-1 in their past 10 games and are tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. The Panthers, who are 1-3-1 in their past five, are three points behind the Flyers, and two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for third place in the Atlantic Division.

The Flyers and Panthers will play again at BB&T Center on Thursday. 

Players to watch

Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov (151 goals, 248 assists) is one point from 400 in the NHL.

Flyers forward Sean Couturier has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in his past 10 games.

They said it

"I think he's very meticulous in how he prepares, very structured and very disciplined. ... I think his focus and his concentration, his preparation is something we haven't seen to that level." -- Panthers coach Joel Quenneville, on goalie Sergei Bobrovsky

"I think our players right now, just like we're doing and just like you're doing, are looking at the standings. They know that it's a battle and it's a battle every night for points. Tonight we're playing against one of those teams we're competing against tightly right now. I know they're going to be ready, we're going to be ready. Should be a great hockey game." -- Flyers coach Alain Vigneault

Panthers projected lineup

Jonathan Huberdeau -- Aleksander Barkov -- Evgenii Dadonov

Brett Connolly -- Vincent Trocheck -- Noel Acciari

Frank Vatrano -- Dominic Toninato -- Mike Hoffman

Jayce Hawryluk -- Colton Sceviour -- Mark Pysyk

Keith Yandle -- Aaron Ekblad

Riley Stillman -- Anton Stralman

Mike Matheson -- MacKenzie Weegar

Sergei Bobrovsky

Sam Montembeault

Scratched: Denis Malgin, Josh Brown

Injured: Brian Boyle (upper body), Chris Driedger (lower body)

Flyers projected lineup

Claude Giroux -- Sean Couturier -- Jakub Voracek

Scott Laughton -- Kevin Hayes -- Travis Konecny

James van Riemsdyk -- Morgan Frost -- Tyler Pitlick

Michael Raffl -- Connor Bunnaman -- Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Ivan Provorov -- Matt Niskanen

Travis Sanheim -- Philippe Myers

Robert Hagg -- Justin Braun

Carter Hart

Brian Elliott

Scratched: Joel Farabee

Injured: Nolan Patrick (migraine disorder), Shayne Gostisbehere (knee)

Status report

Weegar will remain in the lineup for the Panthers after playing 15:59 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. He's played two of three games since missing 15 with an upper-body injury. ... Farabee is healthy after the forward missed the past two games with the flu. The forward is expected to play against the New York Islanders on Tuesday. ... Gostisbehere will miss his second straight games because the defenseman is feeling soreness in his knee. He had missed 10 games with a knee injury and had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Jan. 14. ... The Flyers sent goalie Alex Lyon to Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League on Monday.

Stat pack

Yandle is one goal from 100 in the NHL. Barkov is two assists from 250 in the NHL. ... Niskanen has six points (two goals, four assists) in his past five games. Hayes has five points (three goals, two assists) in his past five games.