It has been a rocky road toward a Stanley Cup Playoffs berth for the Pittsburgh Penguins (36-20-16). The scrappy Penguins will face the mighty Dallas Stars (43-18-11) at PPG Paints Arena Saturday.

Note the early time. The puck drops just after 5 p.m. and Mr. Jeff Jimerson hands off the Star-Spangled Banner.

UPDATE: Penguins coach Dan Muse said both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are out day-to-day. Crosby has a lower-body injury, while Malkin is out with what is believed to be a hand injury.

Update 2: The Penguins recalled rookie winger Rutger McGroarty and returned Avery Hayes and Joona Koppanen to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

The Penguins are fresh from a shootout win over the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre Thursday. The Penguins and Senators battled to a goalie-driven draw in regulation, before both Penguins goaltender Stuart Skinner and Ottawa netminder Linus Ullmark made a few high-pressure stops in overtime.

Egor Chinakhov and Ben Kindel scored for the Penguins in the shootout, and Skinner stopped two of three attempts as the Penguins won 4-3. It was also their second consecutive victory when reaching the shootout.

The game also featured a pair of extraordinary performances from the Penguins’ Swedish stars. Erik Karlsson (1-2-3) and Rickard Rakell (2-1-3) each had three points and were the primary drivers of the win.

Dallas has lost four in a row and five of six (1-4-1). They have also lost significant ground in the race for the top stop in the league, and now trail the Colorado Avalanche by nine points for the Presidents’ Trophy.

Dallas gave the Penguins no help Thursday by losing to the New York Islanders in regulation, 2-1 at UBS Arena. However, the Stars are still led by winger Jason Robertson, who has 39 goals and 85 points this season.

Based on Muse’s goalie rotation, Arturs Silovs is expected to get the start in net. Dallas will likely lean on Jake Oettinger. Silovs has won two of his last three starts, but was shelled on Tuesday when the Penguins lost to Colorado 6-2.

Muse will also update the status of Evgeni Malkin, who has missed the last two games with an upper-body injury. The team recalled both Avery Hayes and Joona Koppanen Thursday.

Dallas winger Mikko Rantanen is on IR, but he practiced Friday and could return to the lineup. However, Sam Steel was injured and will miss the remainder of Dallas’s road trip.

UPDATE 2: Muse has broken the rotation and will go with Skinner Saturday.

How to Watch

TV: SportsNet Pittsburgh

Radio: 105.9 The X

Possible Penguins Lines

Anthony Mantha-Rickard Rakell-Bryan Rust

Egor Chinakhov-Tommy Novak-Justin Brazeau

Ville Koivunen-Ben Kindel-Rutger McGroarty

Elmer Soderblom-Connor Dewar-Noel Acciari

Defense

Parker Wotherspoon-Erik Karlsson

Sam Girard-Kris Letang

Ryan Shea-Connor Clifton

Goalie: Stuart Skinner, Confirmed

Expected Stars Lines

Mikko Rantanen-Wyatt Johnston-Mavrik Bourque

Jason Robertson-Matt Duchene-Jamie Benn

Adam Erne-Justin Hryckowian-Colin Blackwell

Oskar Back-Arttu Hyry-Nathan Bastian

Defense

Esa Lindell-Miro Heiskanen

Vladislav Kolyachonok-Nils Lundkvist

Lian Bichsel-Tyler Myers

Goalie: Jake Oettinger, expected

Special Teams

Penguins’ power play: 24.4%, 7th. Penguins penalty kill: 82.6%, 3rd

Stars power play: 28.8%, 2nd. Stars penalty kill: 81.2%, 10th.

Penguins Game Notes

The Penguins have points in 10 of their last 15 games against the Stars (7-5-3).

Rickard Rakell has points in 10 of his last 11 games (6-8-14).

Sam Girard will play in his 600th career game. He would be the ninth player and third defenseman from the 2016 NHL Draft to reach the mark.

Bryan Rust (26G-33A) is one point shy of hitting the 60-point plateau for the second-straight season and second time in his career.

Erik Karlsson has been one of the NHL’s hottest players in March, registering 21 points (8-13-21) in just 14 games. Since March 1, only Nikita Kucherov (26) has more points, and Karlsson’s 21 points are the most by a Penguins blueliner in a calendar month since Paul Coffey’s franchise record of 28 points in February 1990.

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