Rangers at Stars preview

RANGERS (25-22-5) at STARS (30-19-4)
8:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, FS-SW+, MSG, NHL.TV

Ben Bishop will start in goal for the Stars after missing one game with facial swelling from a puck that him while he was sitting on the bench against the Arizona Coyotes on Feb. 1.
The Rangers have lost two straight games (0-2-0) and have three wins in their past 11 (3-8-0).

Players to watch

Rangers right wing Rick Nash has seven points (six goals, one assists) in his past eight games.
Stars center Tyler Seguin has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past two games.

They said it

"They've got a great defensive core that loves to jump up in the attack and obviously are on the scoresheet quite a bit and they've got one of the best lines in hockey, so we've got a real great challenge in front of us." -- Rangers coach Alain Vigneault
"We're starting to get back to that. It's a second- and third-effort League. And that's where the second and third effort has to take place. We've had some stretches, we've gotten more and more minutes, we had 25 minutes in Arizona, and we got close to 40 [against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday]." -- Stars coach Ken Hitchcock, on his team playing a full game

Rangers projected lineup

Jesper Fast -- Mika Zibanejad -- Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner -- Kevin Hayes --
Vinni Lettieri
Rick Nash -- David Desharnais -- J.T. Miller
Cody McLeod --
Peter Holland
-- Paul Carey
Ryan McDonagh -- Nick Holden
Brady Skjei --
Tony DeAngelo
Brendan Smith -- Steven Kampfer
Henrik Lundqvist
Ondrej Pavelec
Scratched:None
Injured: Pavel Buchnevich (upper body), Chris Kreider (rib surgery), Kevin Shattenkirk (knee surgery), Jimmy Vesey (concussion), Marc Staal (cervical strain)

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark -- Jason Spezza -- Devin Shore
Antoine Roussel -- Radek Faksa -- Tyler Pitlick
Remi Elie -- Martin Hanzal -- Brett Ritchie
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Dan Hamhuis -- Greg Pateryn
Stephen Johns -- Julius Honka
Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen
Scratched: Dillon Heatherington, Gemel Smith, Jason Dickinson
Injured:Marc Methot (knee)

Status report

Vesey and Staal were injured during a 5-2 loss against the Nashville Predators on Saturday. ... Hanzal will play after missing five games because of a lower-body injury. Methot took part in the morning skate but is not ready to play yet.

Stat pack

The Rangers have allowed at least four goals in five straight games. McDonagh has four points (two goals, two assists) in his past three games. … The Stars have held opponents to two goals or fewer in 11 of their past 15 games ... Radulov has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in his past 12 games.