Panthers at Maple Leafs preview

PANTHERS (33-30-12) at MAPLE LEAFS (44-25-6)
7 p.m. ET; TSN4, FS-F, NHL.TV

The Maple Leafs, third in the division, trail the Boston Bruins by seven points. Boston plays the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on Monday.
Goalie Frederik Andersen will start for the Maple Leafs, who are 2-4-1 in their past seven games after going 6-1-1 in their prior eight.
Sam Montembeault will start in goal for the Panthers, who are 1-3-0 in their past four games after a four-game winning streak and trail the Montreal Canadiens by 10 points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Players to watch

Panthers forward Aleksander Barkov has 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) in his past nine games.
Maple Leafs forward John Tavares has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past four games.

They said it

"They're good players, some of the best players in the League, and you need to be ready all the time when you step on the ice and need to know who you're playing against. Against them you need to play simple and really good defensively and try to spend as much time as possible in the offensive zone." -- Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov, on playing against the Maple Leafs' John Tavares and Mitchell Marner
"They definitely have some very good firepower and very mobile defensemen who like to join the rush. We have to be as best prepared as we can be. And for us a lot of that focus is on our own game and trying to continue to build and get better. There's a lot of good things that have gone on over the last few games." -- Maple Leafs forward John Tavares

Panthers projected lineup

Jonathan Huberdeau -- Aleksander Barkov -- Evgenii Dadonov
Mike Hoffman -- Vincent Trocheck -- Jayce Hawryluk
Frank Vatrano -- Riley Sheahan -- Denis Malgin
Jamie McGinn -- Henrik Borgstrom -- Troy Brouwer
Mike Matheson -- Aaron Ekblad
Keith Yandle -- MacKenzie Weegar
Ian McCoshen -- Josh Brown
Sam Montembeault
Roberto Luongo
Scratched:Dryden Hunt, Brady Keeper, Colton Sceviour, Mark Pysyk, Ian McCoshen, James Reimer
Injured: Derek MacKenzie (shoulder)

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Andreas Johnsson -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander
Zach Hyman -- John Tavares -- Mitchell Marner
Patrick Marleau -- Nazem Kadri -- Kasperi Kapanen
Trevor Moore
-- Frederik Gauthier -- Connor Brown
Morgan Rielly -- Ron Hainsey
Jake Muzzin -- Nikita Zaitsev
Martin Marincin -- Justin Holl
Frederik Andersen
Garret Sparks
Scratched:Tyler Ennis Nic Petan, Igor Ozhiganov
Injured:Jake Gardiner (back), Travis Dermott (shoulder)

Status report

Panthers coach Bob Boughner said Luongo will be the backup Monday and start against the Canadiens at Bell Centre on Tuesday. … Pysyk will miss the game to be with his wife, who had a baby Sunday. … Marincin will return after missing the past three games with an illness. … Dermott has been cleared for contact drills but will not play. He'll miss his 12th consecutive game.

Stat pack

Huberdeau has 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) in his past nine games. … Matthews has eight points (five goals, three assists) in his past seven games.