Rangers at Stars preview

RANGERS (36-28-4) at STARS (37-23-8)
8:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-SW, MSG 2, NHL.TV

The Stars are 0-3-2 in their past five games, including back-to-back shutout losses to the Nashville Predators, after going 7-1-1 in their previous nine. They're in third place in the Central Division, eight points behind the Colorado Avalanche and four points ahead of the Winnipeg Jets.
The Rangers, 1-4-0 in their past five games but 10-5-0 in their past 15, are three points behind the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Players to watch

Rangers center Mika Zibanejad has 10 points (nine goals, one assist) during a four-game point streak and has scored at least one goal in 10 of his past 11 games.
Stars goalie Ben Bishop is 11-2-0 with a 1.77 goals-against average, .936 save percentage and three shutouts in 14 games against New York.

They said it

"This is about resetting our mindset, everybody committing to playing defense, everybody understanding what we're going to have to do and what our recipe is for success. That's what it comes down to."-- Rangers coach David Quinn
"I hope the guys feel a little bit of pressure, but I don't think we need to be overwhelmed. We're still in control of our own destiny. We made our surge in March last year, and it's still March so we can make our surge and turn things around. It's early enough in the final stretch of the season that things don't need to be in panic mode yet, but we definitely need to buckle down." -- Stars forward Jason Dickinson

Rangers projected lineup

Phillip Di Giuseppe -- Mika Zibanejad -- Pavel Buchnevich
Artemi Panarin -- Ryan Strome -- Jesper Fast
Brett Howden -- Filip Chytil -- Julien Gauthier
Brendan Lemieux -- Greg McKegg -- Kaapo Kakko
Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox
Brendan Smith -- Jacob Trouba
Marc Staal -- Tony DeAngelo
Igor Shesterkin
Henrik Lundqvist
Scratched: Alexandar Georgiev
Injured: Chris Kreider (fractured foot), Micheal Haley (core muscle)

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Tyler Seguin -- Corey Perry
Denis Gurianov -- Roope Hintz -- Joe Pavelski
Andrew Cogliano -- Justin Dowling -- Mattias Janmark
Jason Dickinson -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen -- Stephen Johns
Jamie Oleksiak -- Andrej Sekera
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched: Roman Polak, Taylor Fedun
Injured: Alexander Radulov (illness)

Status report

Kreider, a forward, was on the ice for morning skate wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants. … Radulov, a forward, remains day to day.

Stat pack

The Rangers went 3-for-3 on the power play against Dallas on Feb. 3 and are 6-for-18 (33.3 percent) in their past four games. … Buchnevich has seven points (one goal, six assists) during a five-game point streak. … Dallas has not scored or allowed a goal at even-strength in three games. … The Stars are 5-1-0 in their past six games against the Rangers.