At some point in the near future, the Pittsburgh Penguins are going to have to adapt to the blunt reality of life without superstar forwards Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

On Saturday, they got a refresher of how difficult that existence can be during a 6-3 loss to the Dallas Stars at PPG Paints Arena.

Crosby was scratched because of an undisclosed injury suffered during a 4-3 road shootout win against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, and Malkin was sidelined for a third consecutive game with an unspecified ailment.

Dressing a patchwork lineup once again, the Penguins generated a threadbare 12 shots on net, one more than the franchise mark for fewest shots in a game.

(The record low of 11 shots was achieved seven times between 1977 and 2008.)

“We overthought when there (were) times to shoot the puck instead of just getting the puck on and off our stick and towards the net,” said Penguins forward Bryan Rust, who accounted for two shots. “We took that extra half-second to maybe look for a pass. Shooting lanes closed up, and we got shots blocked or we (had) shots that missed the net or we just, at that point, didn’t shoot because there wasn’t a shooting lane.”

Goaltender Stuart Skinner, getting a rare second consecutive start, made 20 saves on 24 shots as his record tumbled to 21-15-9.

Penguins forward Anthony Mantha opened the scoring 132 seconds into regulation during a power-play sequence with his 27th goal of the season.

Stars rookie forward Justin Hryckowian tied the score with his 12th goal 2:10 into the second period.

Only 48 seconds later, Karlsson responded with his 13th goal.

After Stars forward Jason Robertson scored his 40th goal during a power-play scenario at 7:12 of the second frame. the visitors took their first lead exactly three minutes later via forward Mikko Rantanen 21st during another power-play opportunity.

Stars defenseman Lian Bichsel got in on the act with his fourth goal at 11:38 of the second.

After Bichsel appeared to grab his stick near the Penguins’ left circle, Karlsson let it go, allowing it to tumble to the ice. As Karlsson turned his attention to referee Michael Markovic to protest, Stars forward Mavrik Bourque settled a puck in the left corner, then slid a pass to the high slot where Bichsel pumped a one-timer past Skinner’s glove. Mantha appeared to screen Skinner inadvertently during the sequence. Bourque and forward Oskar Back bagged assists.

Members of the Penguins directed further protests to Markovic to little avail. Karlsson was asked if he got an explanation from Markovic after the fact.

“You don’t get that usually,” Karlsson said. “From certain guys, at least.”

The Penguins called a timeout to regroup after that score.

After Penguins forward Noel Acciari scored his 10th goal at 8:54 of the third period to make it a one-score affair, Any notion of a comeback was snuffed out by a pair of empty-net goals by Bourque in the final minutes of regulation.

Bourque got his 15th goal of the season at the 16:52 mark then struck again at 18:50.

Following Saturday’s results, the Penguins (36-21-16, 88 points) slipped into third place of the Metropolitan Division as the New York Islanders (42-27-5, 89 points), buoyed by a 5-2 home win against the Florida Panthers, rose into second place.

All of which makes an already weighty entanglement between the Penguins and Islanders on Monday at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y., all the more consequential.

“We all know what’s on the line there,” Rust said. “It’s going to be a fun playoff-type of game. We’ve got to go ahead and be ready.”

Notes: The Penguins recalled rookie forward Rutger McGroarty from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and assigned forwards Avery Hayes and Joona Koppanen to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.