Panthers at Rangers preview

PANTHERS (1-2-3) at RANGERS (2-5-1)
7 p.m. ET; MSG, FS-F, NHL.TV

Georgiev allowed seven goals on 39 shots in an 8-5 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 7.
Michael Hutchinson will make his third start in four games for the Panthers, who have led in every game this season. They've scored the first goal in five of their six games but have lost five of the six.
Florida will play its next five games away from home. The Panthers are at the New York Islanders on Wednesday and the New Jersey Devils on Saturday before playing two games against the Winnipeg Jets in Helsinki, Finland, as part of the 2018 NHL Global Series.

Players to watch

Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle has seven points (one goal, six assists) during a five-game point streak.
Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello has 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in 20 games against the Panthers.

They said it

"At this point in the season, I'm still looking for that extra level. Protecting leads, obviously. We talked about that, playing a full 60 [minutes]." -- Panthers coach Bob Boughner
"The most important thing around here is winning and that's no matter who you are, no matter what team you are and that's important to us in this locker room. We are tired of saying we are almost there. We want to push through here .... tomorrow night we are going to have to battle against a really good team." -- Rangers defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk after practice Monday

Panthers projected lineup

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

Rangers projected lineup

Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Mats Zuccarello
Filip Chytil -- Kevin Hayes -- Jesper Fast
Jimmy Vesey -- Brett Howden -- Pavel Buchnevich
Cody McLeod -- Vladislav Namestnikov -- Ryan Spooner
Brady Skjei -- Adam McQuaid
Brendan Smith -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Marc Staal -- Neal Pionk
Alexandar Georgiev
Henrik Lundqvist
Scratched:Tony DeAngelo, Vinni Lettieri
Injured:Matt Beleskey (shoulder), Boo Nieves (concussion); Fredrik Claesson (upper body)

Status report

Neither team held a morning skate. ... Rangers coach David Quinn said Claesson will be out 2-3 weeks. ... Beleskey and Nieves, neither of whom has played this season, are day to day. ... Zuccarello will move to the top line, switching places with Fast. ... The Panthers flipped their top two defense pairings at practice Monday; Yandle had been playing with Ekblad and Petrovic had been playing with Matheson. ... Pysyk is day to day ... MacKenzie isn't on the road trip and will have surgery when Florida returns home. ... Luongo is on the trip but is considered week to week.

Stat pack

New York is 5-for-20 (25 percent) on the power play in its past six games. ... Florida has allowed at least four goals in four of its past five games.