Rangers at Stars preview

RANGERS (27-27-11) at STARS (33-27-5)
8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, MSG, NHL.TV

The forward will be a healthy scratch after reporting late for the team meeting Tuesday morning.
The Stars hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. They are tied in points with the Minnesota Wild and two ahead of the Arizona Coyotes. Dallas returns home after 3-1-0 road trip that ended with a 4-1 win against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
Forward Mats Zuccarello, who was acquired by the Stars from the Rangers in a trade on Feb. 23, won't face his former team. He's out with a broken right arm sustained in his first game with Dallas on Feb. 24.
The Rangers, 0-1-3 in their past four games, will try to avoid matching a season-long five-game losing streak. They are 12 points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference. New York defeated the Stars 2-1 at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 19.

Players to watch

Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad has 19 points (10 goals, nine assists) in his past 16 games.
Stars forward Jamie Benn has five goals in his past four games. He had his fifth NHL hat trick in the win at St. Louis.

They said it

"Tough rink to play in. Always a lot of energy. Should be fun, though. It's a good test." -- Rangers forward Ryan Strome on playing at Dallas
"When I go 11 forwards, I rotate them all. You're going to see [Jason] Spezza play center, right wing. You'll see Jamie [Benn] play center and left wing. … Whoever's playing the best, they're going to get out there the most." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery

Rangers projected lineup

Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Jimmy Vesey
Vladislav Namestnikov -- Ryan Strome -- Jesper Fast
Filip Chytil -- Brett Howden -- Pavel Buchnevich
Brendan Smith -- Boo Nieves -- Brendan Lemieux
Marc Staal -- Tony DeAngelo
Brady Skjei -- Neal Pionk
Libor Hajek -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Alexandar Georgiev
Henrik Lundqvist
Scratched:Fredrik Claesson, Connor Brickley, Lias Andersson
Injured:None

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Joel L'Esperance -- Jason Spezza
Mattias Janmark -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau
Valeri Nichushkin -- Jason Dickinson -- Brett Ritchie
Roope Hintz -- Tyler Seguin
Miro Heiskanen -- John Klingberg
Esa Lindell -- Roman Polak
Taylor Fedun -- Ben Lovejoy
Jamie Oleksiak
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched:Alexander Radulov, Julius Honka
Injured:Mats Zuccarello (broken right arm), Andrew Cogliano (upper body), Tyler Pitlick (upper body), Martin Hanzal (back), Marc Methot (upper body), Stephen Johns (upper body)

Status report

Georgiev will start back-to-back games for the fourth time this season. … Cogliano will miss his third straight game; they are the only games he has missed because of injury during his 14-year NHL career. He is probable for Thursday against the Colorado Avalanche.

Stat pack

Vesey has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past five games. ... Bishop is 10-2-0 against the Rangers with a 1.91 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage.