St. Louis @ Pittsburgh preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 29, 2018 ) Pittsburgh 6, St. Louis 1

The Pittsburgh Penguins have won three in a row and six of their last seven to begin an all-out sprint toward securing a 13th consecutive postseason appearance. The Penguins look to inch closer to that goal on Saturday afternoon when they open a two-game homestand against the St. Louis Blues, who have dropped three in a row (0-2-1).

Pittsburgh, which scored four power-play goals in a 6-1 romp in St. Louis on Dec. 29, converted for the fifth time in its last two games with the man advantage after netting three in Thursday's 5-0 rout of Buffalo. "Right now it's clicking for us and we've just got to make sure we try to get better every day and keep this momentum going," veteran forward Patric Hornqvist said of Penguins' third-ranked power play. While Pittsburgh has shown itself to be one of the hotter teams in the league, St. Louis was shut out by the weakest of the lot as the club dropped to the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference following Thursday's 2-0 setback to lowly Ottawa. "We need to have a 60-minute effort and it doesn't matter who we're playing right now -- teams that are in the playoffs or out," said Jake Allen, who yielded four goals on 17 shots before receiving an early exit in the first meeting with the Penguins.

TV: 1 p.m. ET, NHL Network, TVAS, FS Midwest (St. Louis), AT&T SportsNet-Pittsburgh

ABOUT THE BLUES (36-27-7): Offense has been a significant issue for St. Louis, which has scored two goals or fewer in nine of its last 11 games (4-5-2). "We're running into some tough luck right now scoring, but you've got to battle through it," Blues coach Craig Berube said. "We've got to do a better job of taking the goalie's eyes away and scoring some 'dirty' goals." Ryan O'Reilly, who leads the team in assists (41) and points (67), has scored two goals and set up as many in his last 10 games.

ABOUT THE PENGUINS (39-23-9): Superstar captain Sidney Crosby, who scored a goal and set up three others in the previous meeting with St. Louis, set up a pair of tallies on Thursday to boost his point total to 19 (eight goals, 11 assists) in his past 10 games. "I think this is his favorite time of year, and he's shown an ability to elevate his game when the stakes are the highest, and he plays his best on the biggest stage and he's done it time and time again," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of the two-time Hart Trophy recipient. Evgeni Malkin, who captured that award in 2012, has 34 points (10 goals, 24 assists) in a 29-game stretch that includes a power-play goal versus the Blues.

OVERTIME

1. St. Louis LW David Perron, who has been sidelined since Jan. 17 with a concussion, could be in line to return to face his former team on Saturday afternoon.

2. Pittsburgh C Jake Guentzel has seven of his team-high 36 goals in the last seven games.

3. The Blues recalled F Jordan Kyrou from San Antonio of the American Hockey League on Friday.

PREDICTION: Penguins 4, Blues 2