Penguins at Stars preview

PENGUINS (6-5-0) at STARS (4-7-1)
8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, FS-SW, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV

The Stars have won three in a row after a five-game losing streak. Goalie Ben Bishop, who will start, is 2-0-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average and .971 save percentage in his past two starts.
The Penguins have lost three games in a row and been outscored 10-4 in that span after a five-game winning streak. Forward Bryan Rust, who has not played this season because of an upper-body injury, and center Nick Bjugstad, who has missed the past nine games because of a lower-body injury, were activated from injured reserve and will play.
The teams will complete their season series; Pittsburgh won 4-2 at PPG Paints Arena on Oct. 18.

Players to watch

Penguins forward Jake Guentzel has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in the past 10 games and has at least one point in nine of the 10.
Stars forward Denis Gurianov has three points in the past three games, including two goals in a 2-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.

They said it

"We're in a results business. That's the world we all live in, and I think our players are well aware of that. We talk a lot about the process because that's really all that we can control. But at the end of the day, results are important. We have to make sure we bring a certain level of urgency to our game and continue to bring the right mindset and that level of simplicity to our game that I think gives us the best chance to win every night." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"It's Saturday night in Big D, and we've got to make this hard on people to come in here. I think we have to be emotionally involved right from the start, and I think we've been doing that since [a 4-1 win at the Philadelphia Flyers] on Oct. 19." -- Stars coach Jim Montgomery on playing on home ice

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Dominik Simon
Bryan Rust -- Nick Bjugstad -- Patric Hornqvist
Sam Lafferty -- Jared McCann -- Dominik Kahun
Zach Aston-Reese -- Teddy Blueger -- Brandon Tanev
John Marino -- Kris Letang
Jack Johnson -- Justin Schultz
Marcus Pettersson -- Juuso Riikola
Matt Murray
Tristan Jarry
Scratched: Joseph Blandisi, Marcus Pettersson, Adam Johnson
Injured: Evgeni Malkin (lower body), Alex Galchenyuk (lower body), Brian Dumoulin (lower body)

Stars projected lineup

Jamie Benn -- Roope Hintz -- Corey Perry
Mattias Janmark -- Tyler Seguin -- Denis Gurianov
Jason Dickinson -- Radek Faksa -- Alexander Radulov
Andrew Cogliano -- Justin Dowling -- Joe Pavelski
Miro Heiskanen -- John Klingberg
Esa Lindell -- Andrej Sekera
Jamie Oleksiak -- Taylor Fedun
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched: Joel Hanley
Injured: Blake Comeau (lower body), Roman Polak (upper body), Stephen Johns (post traumatic headaches), Martin Hanzal (back)

Status report

Riikola will be back in the lineup in place of Erik Gudbranson, who was traded to the Ducks on Friday.

Stat pack

The Penguins have won their past four games against the Stars and outscored them 15-6. … The Stars have a point in seven of their past eight home games (6-1-1) against the Penguins.