Penguins at Blues preview

PENGUINS (19-12-6) at BLUES (15-16-4)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV

Pittsburgh, which begins a three-game road trip, has outscored the opposition 12-4 in its past four games. The Penguins are 6-1-0 in their past seven games.
Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo will return to the Blues lineup. He missed the past 11 games with a broken right hand sustained Nov. 30 against the Colorado Avalanche. The Blues, who have won five of their past seven, went 6-4-1 without Pietrangelo.
This will be the 4,000th regular-season game for the Blues, who joined the NHL in 1967-68, becoming the 10th team in League history to reach that milestone.

Players to watch

Penguins goalie Matt Murray is 4-0-0 with a 1.48 goals-against average, a .957 save percentage and one shutout in four starts since returning from injury.
Blues goalie Jake Allen is 3-1-0 with a 1.75 GAA and .937 save percentage in his past four starts.

They said it

"I just think we try to put the best lineup on the ice that we think is going to give us the best chance to win. In this particular instance, we believe they're all playing extremely well right now. It's not an easy decision from a coaching staff standpoint. What we do think is a guy like Jamie, it gives him a few extra practices to get himself ready, but certainly we value what Jamie has brought as well." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan on scratching defenseman Jamie Oleksiak
"Got clearance [Friday] night from the doctors. It's relieving, especially as long as I was out. The boys were playing well. It's fun to get back in playing the way we are." -- Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Bryan Rust
Dominik Simon -- Evgeni Malkin -- Patric Hornqvist
Tanner Pearson -- Derick Brassard -- Phil Kessel
Zach Aston-Reese -- Matt Cullen -- Riley Sheahan
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Olli Maatta -- Juuso Riikola
Marcus Pettersson -- Jack Johnson
Matt Murray
Casey DeSmith
Scratched:Jamie Oleksiak, Chad Ruhwedel, Derek Grant
Injured: Justin Schultz (leg)

Blues projected lineup

Jaden Schwartz -- Brayden Schenn -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Alexander Steen -- Ryan O'Reilly -- David Perron
Pat Maroon -- Tyler Bozak -- Robert Thomas
Jordan Nolan -- Ivan Barbashev -- Oskar Sundqvist
Jay Bouwmeester -- Alex Pietrangelo
Joel Edmundson -- Colton Parayko
Vince Dunn -- Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Jordan Binnington
Scratched: Robby Fabbri, Chris Butler, Jordan Schmaltz
Injured: Carl Gunnarsson (hand)

Status report

The Penguins cleared Oleksiak (concussion) to play but will stick with the same defensive group during their winning streak. … Fabbri was taken off injured reserve on Friday but will be a healthy scratch. Blues coach Craig Berube said he didn't want to mess with the chemistry of the forward lines.

Stat pack

Crosby has five assists in his past two games, 11 points (one goal, 10 assists) in his past seven games. ... Guentzel has 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in his past 16 games. ... Tarasenko has two goals in his past 11 games.