Florida has won 14 of 15 on the road while the Stars have points in eight straight at home

The Florida Panthers will kick off a tough two-game road trip when they hit the ice against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night.

Florida and Dallas share something enviable in common: they both sit atop their respective divisions with less than a quarter of the regular season to go.

The Stars (40-17-9) have 89 points through their first 66 games, good for a two-point lead over second place Winnipeg in the Central Division.

Dallas has won five straight games and enjoying a spark from some new faces, including defenseman Chris Tanev and rookie Logan Stankoven.

Another thing Dallas has in common with the Panthers is that both have better road records than they do on home ice, which is in no way an indictment of how they play in their own buildings.

While yes, Florida has won 14 of their past 15 games away from Sunrise, the Stars are 6-0-2 over their past eight games at American Airlines Center.

The Panthers arrive to the Lone Star State with a couple question marks hanging over Tuesday’s lineup.

Florida captain Sasha Barkov is expected to play after missing Monday’s practice, while forward Evan Rodrigues will be a game-time decision after leaving Saturday’s win over Calgary early with a lower-body injury that came on a shot block.

The Cats will already be without defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who will be out for at least the next two weeks with a lower-body injury also suffered on Saturday.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson will slide back up to the top defensive pairing with Gus Forsling. The duo spent the first 16 games of the season together while Ekblad and Brandon Montour were still recovering from respective offseason surgeries.

Newly acquired forward Kyle Okposo is expected to play and make his Panthers debut, though where he lines up is seemingly fluid.

He skated on the right side of Florida’s third line, with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, during Monday’s practice, a spot that has belonged to Rodrigues in recent weeks.

If Rodrigues plays, it will be interesting to see where he and Okposo line up, and who on the team ends up a healthy scratch as a result.

Here are the Panthers projected lines and pairings ahead of Tuesday’s dance with Dallas:

Vladimir Tarasenko – Sasha Barkov – Sam Reinhart

Carter Verhaeghe – Sam Bennett – Matthew Tkachuk

Eetu Luostarinen – Anton Lundell – Kyle Okposo

Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Stenlund – Nick Cousins

Gus Forsling – Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Niko Mikkola – Brandon Montour

Dmitry Kulikov – Josh Mahura

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