Pittsburgh @ Dallas preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 21, 2018 ) Dallas 1, Pittsburgh 5

The Pittsburgh Penguins have been haunted by their inability to maintain late leads and ultimately have skated away with losses in three of their past four contests (1-1-2). The Penguins look to finish strong and end their pronounced struggles at American Airlines Center on Saturday when they visit the Dallas Stars.

"You need to go through those situations in order to learn from them. It's better to learn from a win," superstar captain Sidney Crosby said after Pittsburgh allowed the tying goal with 3:01 remaining in the third period of Thursday's 2-1 victory over Nashville. The two-time Hart Trophy recipient cemented the win by scoring in the shootout to propel the Penguins into a tie for second place in the Metropolitan Division and collected a goal and two assists in a 5-1 home win over Dallas on Nov. 21. Rookie Roope Hintz scored in that contest for the Stars, who are clinging to the top wild-card spot in the Western Conference despite losing three of their last four. "As a team, I thought we did a good job. We played some good hockey, but you know, we just couldn't score. It's been our problem the whole season," defenseman Roman Polak said after Dallas dropped a 3-1 setback to Colorado on Thursday.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet-Pittsburgh, FS Southwest-Plus (Dallas)

ABOUT THE PENGUINS (40-24-11): Bryan Rust scored Pittsburgh's lone goal in regulation on Thursday after being reunited with Crosby (team-high 60 assists, 93 points) and Jake Guentzel (club-best 37 goals). "I think we were working well together," the 26-year-old Rust said. "We were skating, we were getting to the open space and we were good to get one there and I thought we could have gotten a few more." Guentzel, who has nine goals in his last 13 games, joined Patric Hornqvist in scoring and setting up a goal in the previous encounter with Dallas.

ABOUT THE STARS (38-30-6): Tyler Seguin scored Dallas' lone goal on Thursday to boost his point total to 10 (one goal, nine assists) in his last eight games and a team-best 70 overall. The 27-year-old joins Crosby as the lone players in the NHL to reach the 70-point plateau in each of the past six seasons. Defenseman John Klingberg set up Seguin's tally against the Avalanche to lift his point total to five (one goal, four assists) in his past six games heading into a tilt versus Pittsburgh, against which he has seven points (two goals, five assists) in seven career encounters.

OVERTIME

1. Dallas has won five straight home games against Pittsburgh and owns an 11-1-3 mark in its last 15 contests in the series at American Airlines Center.

2. The Penguins have killed off 13 consecutive penalties on the road.

3. Stars D Jamie Oleksiak will face his former team for the first time since being traded on Jan. 28 in exchange for a 2019 fourth-round pick.

PREDICTION: Stars 3, Penguins 2