Bruins at Penguins preview

BRUINS (28-9-12) at PENGUINS (30-13-5)
12:30 p.m. ET; NBC, TVAS

The Pittsburgh center has six points (three goals, three assists) in his first three games back after missing the previous 28. He had one goal in each of those three games, including a 4-1 loss at Boston on Thursday.
The Penguins are 5-1-0 in their past six games and 9-2-1 in their past 12.
Bruins center David Krejci will be sidelined for a second straight game because of an upper-body injury after missing practice Saturday.
Boston, which leads the Atlantic Division, is 4-1-1 in its past five games following a three-game winless streak (0-1-2) and is 8-2-6 in its past 15.

Players to watch

Bruins forward David Pastrnak, who had two assists against Pittsburgh on Thursday, has 22 points (10 goals, 12 assists) in his past 16 games.
Penguins forward Bryan Rust, who has 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in his past 12 games, has 12 power-play points (five goals, seven assists) this season after having five power-play points (two goals, three assists) through his first five NHL seasons.

They said it

"We're going to need to bring the same type of game that we brought last night, which is kind of the same as what they're bringing with competing and being strong on the puck." -- Bruins center Patrice Bergeron on Friday
"I think [Rust's] offensive game has really evolved. He's hanging onto pucks. He's seeing the ice extremely well." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan

Bruins projected lineup

Brad Marchand -- Patrice Bergeron -- David Pastrnak
Jake DeBrusk -- Charlie Coyle -- Anders Bjork
Danton Heinen -- Par Lindholm -- Karson Kuhlman
Joakim Nordstrom -- Sean Kuraly -- Chris Wagner
Zdeno Chara -- Charlie McAvoy
Torey Krug -- Brandon Carlo
John Moore -- Matt Grzelcyk
Jaroslav Halak
Dan Vladar
Scratched: Steven Kampfer, David Backes
Injured: Kevan Miller (knee), Tuukka Rask (concussion), Connor Clifton (upper body), David Krejci (upper body)

Penguins projected lineup

Jared McCann -- Sidney Crosby -- Dominik Simon
Dominik Kahun -- Evgeni Malkin -- Bryan Rust
Alex Galchenyuk -- Andrew Agozzino -- Patric Hornqvist
Zach Aston-Reese -- Teddy Blueger -- Brandon Tanev
Jack Johnson -- Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson -- John Marino
Juuso Riikola -- Chad Ruhwedel
Tristan Jarry
Matt Murray
Scratched: Kevin Czuczman, Sam Lafferty
Injured:Nick Bjugstad (core muscle surgery), Brian Dumoulin (ankle surgery), Justin Schultz (lower body), Jake Guentzel (shoulder surgery)

Status report

Backes, a 35-year-old forward, cleared waivers Saturday. He will take the same nine-day break as other Bruins players following a game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday; Boston then plans to assign him to Providence of the American Hockey League. … Vladar was recalled from Providence and goalie Max Lagace was sent down Saturday. ... The Penguins canceled practice Saturday after defeating the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 in overtime Friday.

Stat pack

The Bruins have outscored the Penguins 10-5 in two wins against them this season. … Jarry, expected to start, is 9-2-1 with a 2.38 goals-against average, .920 save percentage and one shutout in his past 12 starts.