Penguins at Stars preview

PENGUINS (40-24-11) at STARS (38-30-6)
8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-SW+, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV

The Penguins are three points behind the first-place Washington Capitals and are tied for second place with the New York Islanders, who play at the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.
The Penguins are 1-1-2 in their past four after going 7-1-1 in their previous nine games.
The Stars hold the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, three points ahead of the Minnesota Wild. They are four points behind the third-place St. Louis Blues in the Central Division. Dallas is 1-2-1 on a five-game homestand after going 6-1-0 in its previous seven games.

Players to watch

Penguins forward Sidney Crosby has 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in his past 14 games. Crosby had three points (one goal, two assists) in a 5-1 win against the Stars on Nov. 21.
Stars goalie Anton Khudobin is 0-2-1 in his past three starts without allowing more than two goals. He was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals on 16 shots in the 5-1 loss to the Penguins.

They said it

"All you can control is the process. You can't always control if the puck goes in the net." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, on his team scoring five goals in its past four games
"He has gotten better, and I think he is a hockey perfection. If he feels he has a weakness, which he doesn't, he spends all summer working on it."-- Stars defenseman Ben Lovejoy on former teammate Sidney Crosby

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Bryan Rust
Jared McCann -- Teddy Blueger -- Phil Kessel
Dominik Simon -- Nick Bjugstad -- Patric Hornqvist
Adam Johnson
-- Matt Cullen -- Garrett Wilson
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Jack Johnson -- Justin Schultz
Marcus Pettersson -- Erik Gudbranson
Matt Murray
Casey DeSmith
Scratched: Zach Trotman
Injured:Evgeni Malkin (upper body), Olli Maatta (upper body), Chad Ruhwedel (upper body), Zach Aston-Reese (lower body)

Stars projected lineup

Mattias Janmark -- Tyler Seguin -- Alexander Radulov
Jamie Benn -- Jason Dickinson -- Roope Hintz
Andrew Cogliano -- Radek Faksa -- Blake Comeau
Valeri Nichushkin --
Justin Dowling
-- Joel L'Esperance
Esa Lindell -- John Klingberg
Miro Heiskanen -- Roman Polak
Taylor Fedun -- Ben Lovejoy
Anton Khudobin
Ben Bishop
Scratched: Julius Honka, Jamie Oleksiak, Jason Spezza, Brett Ritchie
Injured: Stephen Johns (upper body), Marc Methot (lower body), Martin Hanzal (back), Tyler Pitlick (upper body), Mats Zuccarello (arm)

Status report

Maatta hasn't been cleared to play. … Dowling was recalled from Texas of the American Hockey League on Saturday. … Zuccarello, likely out until early April, participated in the optional morning skate.

Stat pack

Guentzel has 14 points (eight goals, six assists) in his past 11 games. … Radulov has 14 points (nine goals, five assists) in his past 13 games.