Preview: Penguins at Blues

PENGUINS (32-13-5) at BLUES (25-21-5)
8 p.m. ET; FS-MW, ROOT, NHL.TV

Penguins team scope

The Pittsburgh Penguins will play three of their next four games on the road; they are 2-4-0 in their past six games away from PPG Paints Arena. Despite that, Pittsburgh is 6-2-0 in its past eight games and 11-5-0 in its past 16. The Penguins defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-3 in overtime Friday to pull within two points of Columbus for second place in the Metropolitan Division. Pittsburgh, which did not hold a morning skate Saturday, could start goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury after Matt Murray made 28 saves Friday. Murray has started the past eight games for the Penguins. Fleury's last start was Jan. 14, a 6-3 loss at the Detroit Red Wings. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is six points shy of 1,000 for his career.

Blues team scope

The St. Louis Blues look to win back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 15. They are 2-5-0 since then and are coming off a 5-1 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday in coach Mike Yeo's debut. Goaltender Jake Allen, who had allowed a total of 17 goals in his five starts before winning on Thursday, will be in goal for St. Louis. "The emotion that we played with and I think we had [Thursday] night we're going to need moving forward," Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo said. "... We've got a really good hockey team coming in. We're going to need the same kind of mindset playing against Pittsburgh." The Blues defeated the Penguins 3-0 on Jan. 24 at Pittsburgh, and aim for a repeat performance. "I thought our physicality in the game [against the Penguins] was very noticeable," Yeo said. "We got on their defensemen and as far as on the forecheck, as far as opportunities to finish checks and be aggressive down in the offensive zone, when you play against a team like Pittsburgh and the skill they have, obviously you have to manage the puck the right way."

Penguins projected lineup

Matt Cullen -- Sidney Crosby -- Patric Hornqvist
Jake Guentzel -- Nick Bonino -- Phil Kessel
Carl Hagelin -- Carter Rowney -- Bryan Rust
Chris Kunitz -- Eric Fehr -- Scott Wilson
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Ian Cole -- Justin Schultz
Olli Maatta -- Trevor Daley
Marc-Andre Fleury
Matt Murray
Scratched:Tom Kuhnhackl, Chad Ruhwedel
Injured:Evgeni Malkin (knee), Conor Sheary (upper body)

Blues projected lineup

Alexander Steen -- Paul Stastny -- David Perron
Jaden Schwartz -- Jori Lehtera -- Vladimir Tarasenko
Robby Fabbri -- Patrik Berglund -- Nail Yakupov
Scottie Upshall -- Ivan Barbashev -- Ryan Reaves
Jay Bouwmeester -- Alex Pietrangelo
Carl Gunnarsson -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Joel Edmundson -- Colton Parayko
Jake Allen
Carter Hutton
Scratched:Robert Bortuzzo, Dmitrij Jaskin
Injured:Kyle Brodziak (foot)

Status report

Malkin, who needs three assists to reach 500 in his NHL career, is not expected to play Saturday. ... The Blues will use the same lineup they did Thursday, Yeo said.

Who's hot

Crosby has 11 points (two goals, nine assists) in his past nine games. ... Schultz has 10 points (one goal, nine assists) in his past eight games. ... Hornqvist has four goals in his past three games. … Pietrangelo has five points (one goal, four assists) in his past two games. … Tarasenko has four points (three goals, one assists) in a three-game point streak. … Parayko had a goal and two assists against the Maple Leafs. … Steen has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past seven games. … Stastny has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past seven games.