Could be that Dallas left winger Jamie Benn is a pretty easy guy to hate, once you get to know him.

That Matt Niskanen can be an absolute scoundrel, and that Nicklas Grossman brings out the worst in anyone who gets near him.

But, if any of that is true, the Penguins don't know it.

Which, they figure, was evident during the first period or so of their 6-3 victory against the Stars Saturday afternoon at Mellon Arena.

Show these guys a Philadelphia Flyers or Washington Capitals sweater, and little puddles of animosity immediately begin to form at their feet. Hand them a copy of the Dallas lineup -- or that of most Western Conference teams --and odds are you won't get much back except a shrug.

If familiarity does, in fact, breed contempt, that would explain a lot.

"It's hard sometimes, when you don't know a team, to get pumped up," winger Pascal Dupuis said. "You don't have a big rivalry. It took a couple of hits, a couple of goals from them, to get us going."

To be precise, Dallas seemed to get the Penguins' attention when Brandon Segal and Loui Eriksson scored 59 seconds apart early in the second period to take a two-goal lead.

"Maybe when you're down, 3-1, it's a realization that, 'All right, we're in a game. Let's go. Enough is enough,' " Penguins defenseman Mark Eaton said. "You kind of get angry."

It showed, and the Penguins ran off five unanswered goals to record their third victory in a row and raise their record to 39-22-4. They are three points head of second-place New Jersey in the Atlantic Division, although the Devils have two games in hand.

Although the Stars held Evgeni Malkin without a point -- the first time that has happened in 16 games -- Sidney Crosby scored two goals and set up another.

The Penguins count on Crosby, who held a 44-42 lead over Washington's Alex Ovechkin in the NHL goal-scoring race before the Capitals played the New York Rangers Saturday night, for that kind of output, but the contributions of their blue-collar forwards should not be discounted.

Dupuis, who seems to have forgotten that he is supposed to be a fourth-liner, got a beautiful deflection goal to tie the score, 3-3, at 9:10 of the second period, and supporting-cast members such as Craig Adams and Mike Rupp left their fingerprints on the outcome.

"People like to talk about the dangerous weapons we have, but, when we're playing well and we're playing our game, we're a good team," coach Dan Bylsma said. "That's the first guy through the 23rd guy.

"You have a sense that that's building on our team right now with guys like Adams and Rupp and Pascal. That's what we should be; not just an Evgeni Malkin or Sidney Crosby or Jordan Staal team, but a real good team right through every guy and every facet of the game."

No one is more important to this team's prospects for another extended playoff run than goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who rebounded from a wretched performance in the Penguins' 5-4 overtime victory against the New York Rangers Thursday night with a strong 27-save performance.

His most spectacular, and likely important, stop came at 4:58 of the second period, less than a minute after Chris Kunitz had scored to slice Dallas' lead to 3-2.

Stars center Brad Richards, who ranks third on the team with 17 goals, had the puck on his stick and an empty net staring at him, only to have Fleury lunge to stop what looked to be an almost-certain goal.

"When he had that save, there was talk on the bench about, 'That's the save we needed,' " Bylsma said.

Actually, no one needed it more than Fleury, whose confidence had been eroded by sub-par play.

And while he didn't like his chances of denying Richards -- "To be honest, I was not very confident about making that save," he said. "I just dove for it and tried to get something with my stick" -- the effect that save had on his game was obvious.

"In the third, he was confident and solid and controlling his rebounds," Bylsma said. "The shots from the point that were going through traffic, he was sharp on and gloving. Even if there was a rebound, it dropped at his feet and [was] covered quickly."

Bylsma would not say whether Fleury will play when Boston visits today. Starting him again, though, might help him to build on the momentum he generated against Dallas.

"The first little bit, I was so-so again," Fleury said. "But, as the game went on, I felt better."

So did his teammates.

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.