Panthers at Maple Leafs preview

PANTHERS (13-13-6) at MAPLE LEAFS (22-10-2)
7 p.m. ET; TVAS, SNO, FS-F, NHL.TV

Goalie Roberto Luongo will start for the Panthers, who had lost four in a row (0-3-1) before their two straight wins.
Goalie Frederik Andersen will make his sixth straight start for the Maple Leafs, who are 2-2-2 in their past six games after a five-game winning streak. The Maple Leafs, who have allowed at least four goals in four of their past six games, lost 4-3 in overtime to the Panthers last Saturday.

Players to watch

Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov has 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in his past 11 games including his first NHL hat trick against the Maple Leafs on Saturday.
Maple Leafs forward Mitchell Marner has three goals in his past two games after not scoring in his prior 13.

They said it

"We just played them Saturday and we all saw what they could do. We were able to shut them down for 40 minutes and they turned it up a notch and got three goals in the third period. We've got to be ready for 60 minutes and make sure we play good with the puck." -- Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo
"We'd like to start on time, kind of like we did [against the New Jersey Devils]. We know we're playing a real good team; (Aleksander) Barkov ran our show last game against them, dominated us basically, so we have to look after that." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock

Panthers projected lineup

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

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Zach Hyman -- John Tavares -- Mitchell Marner
Andreas Johnsson -- Auston Matthews -- Kasperi Kapanen
Patrick Marleau -- Nazem Kadri -- William Nylander
Tyler Ennis -- Par Lindholm -- Connor Brown
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Jake Gardiner -- Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott -- Igor Ozhiganov
Frederik Andersen
Garret Sparks
Scratched: Frederik Gauthier, Martin Marincin, Justin Holl
Injured: None

Status report

Bjugstad participated in the morning skate but will not play. Panthers coach Bob Boughner said he will practice on Friday and could potentially play on Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings.

Stat pack

Huberdeau has 25 points (five goals, 20 assists) in his past 14 games. … Dadonov has 14 points (seven goals, seven assists) in his past 12 games. … Matthews has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in nine games since returning from a left shoulder injury that kept him out of the lineup for 14 games. … Kadri has five points (zero goals, five assists) in his past three games. … Rielly has nine points (two goals, seven assists) in his past nine games.