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.

Especially since each of them is almost 40 years of age.

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 due to an undisclosed injury he suffered during a 4-3 road shootout win against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, while Malkin was sidelined for a third consecutive game due to 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 different 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.”

The Stars found plenty of lanes for shots on the power play as they scored twice with the man advantage on six opportunities. It marked the fourth consecutive game in which the opposition scored a power-play goal against the Penguins’ penalty kill, which has been ranked at the top of the NHL for much of the season.

“It’s not necessarily just one thing,” coach Dan Muse said. “It’s some of the details. We’ve been a little bit late on some assignments. Some of the seam plays that teams have found on us, we’ve got to be there. … We’ve got to just sharpen up some of the details. Some of the in-zone stick details. A little bit late getting to the areas that we need to be in.

“We’re going to continue to work on it, continue to look at it. I have a lot of confidence in our penalty kill.”

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

It marked only the sixth occasion this season in which the Penguins started the same goaltender in multiple consecutive games.

“I’m very grateful for the opportunity to get a second game in a row,” Skinner said. “It feels good, obviously, just because you can sometimes get in a rhythm and feel the game out a little bit more. I was very honored to get this second start.”

The hosts got off to a good start when Penguins forward Anthony Mantha opened the scoring only 132 seconds into regulation during a power-play sequence with his 27th goal of the season.

Off some passing around the perimeter of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson accepted a puck at the left point, maneuvered forward a bit and pumped a wrister toward the cage. Anthony Mantha planted his 6-foot-5, 240-pound frame above the crease and deflected the puck downward through goaltender Jake Oettinger’s five hole. Karlsson and forward Rickard Rakell had assists.

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

Accepting a pass in the left circle of the offensive zone, Stars forward Colin Blackwell deked past a poke check attempt by Penguins defenseman Connor Clifton and surged to the slot, only to lose control of the puck. Hryckowian, stationed just below the right circle, located the puck out of a mass of bodies and swept a forehand shot past the left skate of Penguins rookie forward Ben Kindel as well as the glove of a sprawling Skinner. Assists belonged to Blackwell and linemate Jamie Benn.

Karlsson responded only 48 seconds later with his 13th goal.

Alertly keeping a puck onside at the left point of Dallas’ zone, Penguins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon immediately centered it to his defensive partner, Karlsson. Settling the puck, Karlsson coasted in a bit, loaded up, then gripped and ripped a wrister over Oettinger’s glove. The lone assist went to Wotherspoon.

Stars forward Jason Robertson scored his 40th goal during a power-play scenario at 7:12 of the second frame.

Off a short-area pass from Stars forward Mikko Rantanen in the high slot, Robertson backtracked a bit then lobbed a wrister by Skinner’s glove. Stars forward Wyatt Johnson supplied an effective screen on the sequence. Rantanen and forward Matt Duchene were deemed worthy of assists.

The Stars took their first lead exactly three minutes later when Rantanen found his 21st during another power-play opportunity.

Settling a puck in the Penguins’ left circle, Robertson circled back to the near point then snapped a pass to the lower right circle, where Rantanen leaned on his left knee and ripped a one-timer to the near side that clunked off Skinner’s left arm and deflected into the cage. Robertson and defenseman Miro Heiskanen harvested assists.

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 Bischel 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.

Karlsson had a hand in more offense at 8:54 of the third period when forward Noel Acciari scored his 10th goal.

Off some furious work to keep a puck onside at Dallas’ blue line and to create some space, Karlsson fed a pass from the center point to the right half-wall where Penguins forward Elmer Soderblom cranked a one-timer. Acciari, battling in the crease with Stars defenseman Tyler Myers, allowed the puck to strike off the shaft of his stick and deflect past Oettinger’s right shoulder. Penguins forward Connor Dewar screened Oettinger on the sequence. Soderblom and Karlsson collected assists.

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 off an assist by Myers.

He struck again at 18:50. Benn and defenseman Esa Lindell had assists.

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 entanglement between the Penguins and Islanders at UBS Arena in Elmont, N.Y. on Monday 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 seven games in which the Penguins were limited to 11 shots:

March 27, 1977 – Boston Bruins 3, Penguins 0

March 22, 1985 – Buffalo Sabres 3, Penguins 1

Dec. 16, 2001 – Carolina Hurricanes 7, Penguins 0

Oct. 10, 2003 – Los Angeles Kings 3, Penguins 0

Dec. 18, 2003 – Hurricanes 2, Penguins 1 (OT)

Dec. 25, 2003 – Ottawa Senators 3, Penguins 3

Oct. 28, 2008 – San Jose Sharks 2, Penguins 1

The most notable game of that group was the loss to the Kings. In their season-opening game, the Penguins were buoyed by an 18-year-old rookie goaltender named Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 46 saves on 48 shots in his NHL debut.

• Rakell (220 points) surpassed forward Aleksey Morozov (219) for 41st place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• Karlsson (169 points) surpassed defenseman Moe Mantha (168), forward Tyler Kennedy (168) and defenseman Doug Bodger (167) to move into 51st place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• Penguins defenseman Sam Girard appeared in his 600th career game.

• In addition to Crosby and Malkin, Penguins forwards Kevin Hayes and Blake Lizotte were scratched due to undisclosed injuries.

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• Penguins defensemen Ryan Graves, Ilya Solovyov and Jack St. Ivany were healthy scratches.

• Rantanen was activated from injured reserve and returned to the lineup after missing 15 games due to an undisclosed injury he suffered while skating for Finland in the Olympics.