Blues at Penguins preview

BLUES (36-27-7) at PENGUINS (39-23-9)
1 p.m. ET; NHLN, TVAS, ATTSN-PT, FS-MW, NHL.TV

Pittsburgh, which has outscored its opponents 14-5 during the winning streak, is 7-1-2 in its past 10 games and 11-3-2 in its past 16. The Penguins are third in the Metropolitan Division, four points behind the Washington Capitals and two behind the New York Islanders. They are four points ahead of the Carolina Hurricanes and Columbus Blue Jackets, who are tied for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
The Blues have lost three straight games (0-2-1) after winning 15 of their previous 19 (15-3-1). They are third in the Central Division, tied in points (79) with the Dallas Stars, who have played one more game and hold the first wild card from the Western Conference. St. Louis is seven points behind the Winnipeg Jets for first place and six behind the Nashville Predators for second.

Players to watch

Blues forward Tyler Bozak has eight points (four goals, four assists) in his past five games against the Penguins.
Penguins center Sidney Crosby has 19 points (eight goals, 11 assists) in his past 10 games, and 31 (10 goals, 21 assists) in his past 17.

They said it

"It's pretty simple. You've got to get pucks to the net. ... We need to take the goalie's eyes away a little bit more." -- Blues coach Craig Berube
"This group of veterans that we have is an accomplished group. They tend to elevate their own respective games when the stakes get high." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan

Blues projected lineup

Brayden Schenn -- Ryan O'Reilly -- Robert Thomas
Jaden Schwartz -- Tyler Bozak -- Pat Maroon
Zach Sanford -- Oskar Sundqvist -- Alexander Steen
Mackenzie MacEachern -- Ivan Barbashev -- Robby Fabbri
Vince Dunn -- Alex Pietrangelo
Jay Bouwmeester -- Colton Parayko
Michael Del Zotto -- Robert Bortuzzo
Jake Allen
Jordan Binnington
Scratched: Jordan Kyrou, Joel Edmundson, Sammy Blais
Injured: Vladimir Tarasenko (upper body), David Perron (upper body), Carl Gunnarsson (upper body)

Penguins projected lineup

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

Status report

Perron, who has been out since Jan. 17, is on the road trip with the Blues. He was activated Saturday and could return. ... Letang (upper body) and Rust (lower body) took full contact for the first time in practice Friday but won't play. Letang has missed Pittsburgh's past nine games, Rust has been out for eight. Either or both could return Sunday against the Philadelphia Flyers

Stat pack

Steen needs two points to reach 600 in the NHL. ... Guentzel has 12 points (seven goals, five assists) in his past seven games. ... Murray is 7-1-2 with a 2.37 goals-against average, a .929 save percentage and one shutout in his past 10 starts.