Maple Leafs at Stars preview

MAPLE LEAFS (27-18-5) at STARS (28-17-4)
8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, TSN4, NHL.TV

Goaltender Ben Bishop will start for Dallas, which has outscored its opponents 13-2 in wins against the Buffalo Sabres (7-1) and Florida Panthers (6-1). The Stars are 4-0-1 in their past five games.
Toronto is playing the second game of a back-to-back on the road after defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 in overtime Wednesday. Backup goaltender Curtis McElhinney is expected to make his first start since Dec. 20. He is 3-4-0 with a 2.78 goals-against average and .916 save percentage.

Players to watch

Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner has six assists in his past four games.
Stars forward Alexander Radulov has six goals and nine assists during an eight-game point streak.

They said it

"That's the way it is every night. We've got to get used to it. I still feel like we can play way better. I think we can play way harder from the start of the game to the end. We're playing a real good Dallas team [Thursday]. It's going to take a big effort to win, but we need that from the group." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock
"I think we've had a focus of putting work in ahead of skill, and that's helped us. When we do lose it, we've been able to grab it back in between periods, or whatever, during stoppages. And the guys have responded." -- Stars coach Ken HItchcock

Maple Leafs projected lineup

Zach Hyman -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander
Patrick Marleau -- Nazem Kadri -- Mitchell Marner
James van Riemsdyk -- Tyler Bozak -- Connor Brown
Leo Komarov -- Dominic Moore --
Kasperi Kapanen
Jake Gardiner -- Ron Hainsey
Travis Dermott -- Connor Carrick
Andreas Borgman -- Roman Polak
Curtis McElhinney
Frederik Andersen
Scratched:Josh Leivo, Matt Martin, Rinat Valiev
Injured:Morgan Rielly (arm), Nikita Zaitsev (lower body), Nikita Soshnikov (lower body)

Stars projected lineup

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

Status report

The Maple Leafs did not hold a morning skate. … Hanzal will miss his second straight game.

Stat pack

Marleau has 65 points (30 goals, 35 assists) in 100 games against Dallas. Toronto is 93-90-28-1 all-time against the Stars/Minnesota North Stars and 39-53-11-1 on the road. … Klingberg has 21 points (two goals, 19 assists) in his past 15 games. Bishop has held opponents to two goals or fewer in eight of his past 12 starts. Benn has four goals and six assists during an eight-game point streak.