Jets vs. Panthers preview

JETS (7-4-1) vs. PANTHERS (2-4-3)
At Hartwall Arena (Helsinki, Finland)
2 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN3, NHL.TV

Florida is last in the Atlantic Division and the Eastern Conference; the Panthers have yet to win in regulation. Winnipeg has won four of its past six but is coming off a 3-2 loss at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Oct. 27.

Players to watch

Jets center Mark Scheifele has eight points (four goals, four assists) during a five-game point streak.
Panthers forward Mike Hoffman has scored a goal in four straight games and has one point in each of the past seven games.

They said it

"There's points on the line; that's why we're here. We're here to get four points. It's a business trip for us. Now the fun part's over. Gameday is just a normal day; it doesn't matter if we play in Winnipeg or we play here. It's the same type of game. We need to do everything as well as we can to get those points, and that's all that matters." -- Jets forward Patrik Laine
"When the puck drops, it's game on. It doesn't matter where you play, you want to get those points. We came here to try to win those games and we're going to do everything we can to win, and [it's the] same thing with Winnipeg. We're not going to any shows in the middle of games or anything like that. We're just going to play as hard as we can and try to adjust to the atmosphere. I know it's going to be really nice to play here." -- Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov

Jets projected lineup

Nikolaj Ehlers -- Mark Scheifele -- Blake Wheeler
Kyle Connor -- Bryan Little -- Mathieu Perreault
Brandon Tanev -- Adam Lowry -- Patrik Laine
Brendan Lemieux -- Andrew Copp -- Jack Roslovic
Josh Morrissey -- Jacob Trouba
Ben Chiarot -- Dustin Byfuglien
Dmitry Kulikov -- Tyler Myers
Connor Hellebuyck
Laurent Brossoit
Scratched:Nic Petan,Joe Morrow
Injured:None

Panthers projected lineup

Evgenii Dadonov -- Aleksander Barkov -- Nick Bjugstad
Jonathan Huberdeau -- Vincent Trocheck -- Mike Hoffman
Frank Vatrano -- Jared McCann -- Denis Malgin
Troy Brouwer -- Juho Lammikko -- Colton Sceviour
Keith Yandle -- Alexander Petrovic
Mike Matheson -- Aaron Ekblad
MacKenzie Weegar -- Bogdan Kiselevich
James Reimer
Michael Hutchinson
Scratched:Maxim Mamin, Roberto Luongo
Injured:Mark Pysyk (upper body), Derek MacKenzie (upper body), Jamie McGinn (back)

Status report

Jets coach Paul Maurice confirmed Hellebuyck will start Thursday, but he is undecided about Friday. … Luongo, who injured his knee in the Panthers' first game of the season on Oct. 6, was activated off injured reserve Thursday morning. He was a full participant in practice Tuesday and Wednesday but is unlikely to play in either of these two games. Hutchinson will back up Reimer. ... Boughner confirmed Pysyk is out and is unlikely to play Friday. He was injured Oct. 19. ... Malgin will play after being a healthy scratch in a 3-2 loss at the New Jersey Devils on Oct. 27.

Stat pack

Connor has six points (two goals, four assists) during a five-game point streak. ... Laine has gone five straight games without a point. … Dadonov has seven points (three goals, four assists) during a six-game point streak. ... Barkov has six points (one goal, five assists) in his past five games.