Preview: Panthers at Capitals

PANTHERS (5-5-1) at CAPITALS (7-2-1)
7 p.m. ET; FS-F, CSN-DC, NHL.TV

Panthers team scope

Roberto Luongo is expected to start in goal for the Florida Panthers on Saturday. The Panthers lost 5-2 to the Capitals for their first home loss of the season on Oct. 20. Florida was 2-0-1 in three games against the Capitals last season. "They're a great team so it'll be a battle," coach Gerard Gallant told the Miami Herald on Friday. "We played them good in that building last year, so hopefully we'll do the same." This is the only road game for the Panthers in a span of 15 days.

Capitals team scope

The Washington Capitals have won four consecutive games and play the second game of a three-game homestand. Goalie Braden Holtby will start for the ninth time this season. Washington completed a home-and-home sweep of the Winnipeg Jets despite giving up 2-0 and 3-0 leads, but coach Barry Trotz said he isn't worried about it yet. Forward Daniel Winnik will play after being scratched for four games. "Where he can have the biggest impact is on our penalty kill," Trotz said. "He's a big-bodied guy, so he can use his frame to win battles along the wall, use his frame to get to the front of the net, use his frame to box out people in those situations and just play a real good solid two-way game, which he can."

Panthers projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- Aleksander Barkov -- Jaromir Jagr
Reilly Smith -- Vincent Trocheck -- Colton Sceviour
Jared McCann -- Denis Malgin -- Kyle Rau
Greg McKegg -- Derek MacKenzie -- Shane Harper
Keith Yandle -- Aaron Ekblad
Mike Matheson -- Jason Demers
Mark Pysyk -- Alexander Petrovic
Roberto Luongo
James Reimer
Scratched:Shawn Thornton, Steven Kampfer
Injured:Jonathan Huberdeau (Achilles), Nick Bjugstad (hand), Jussi Jokinen (lower body)

Capitals projected lineup

Alex Ovechkin -- Nicklas Backstrom -- Justin Williams
Marcus Johansson -- Evgeny Kuznetsov -- Tom Wilson
Andre Burakovsky -- Lars Eller -- T.J. Oshie
Zach Sanford -- Jay Beagle -- Daniel Winnik
Karl Alzner -- Matt Niskanen
Dmitry Orlov -- John Carlson
Brooks Orpik -- Nate Schmidt
Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer
Scratched:Brett Connolly, Taylor Chorney
Injured:None

Status report

Luongo will be trying to snap a personal three-game losing streak after James Reimer made 31 saves in a 4-3 overtime victory against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday. … Winnik is taking Connolly's place on the fourth line.

Who's hot

Marchessault has 12 points in his past 11 games. Malgin has three points in three games. … Ovechkin had two goals and an assist, including the overtime winner, on Thursday. Carlson has three points in two games.