NHL-leading Stars dealing with first dose of adversity

NEW YORK -- The Dallas Stars reached the halfway point of the season atop the NHL standings, but also dealing with a small dose of what's mostly eluded them: adversity.

It's been an impressive season in Dallas. The Stars' 28-9-4 record is the second-best in their history after 41 games, behind only the 1998-99 team (27-7-7) that won the Stanley Cup. Barring a Texas-sized collapse, the Stars will make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second time in eight seasons and should stand a good chance of escaping the Western Conference First Round for the first time since 2007-08.

However, Dallas enters its game Tuesday against the New York Rangers (7 p.m. ET; FS-SW+, MSG+) at Madison Square Garden challenged physically and mentally. The Stars are 2-2-2 in their past six games, and their 6-5 loss to the New York Islanders on Sunday, one night after a 3-2 overtime defeat at the New Jersey Devils, marked the first time this season they've lost consecutive games.

On the surface it's a hiccup. Deep down, the Stars know there are issues to address before a snowball becomes an avalanche.

"It's nice, adversity, sometimes," center Tyler Seguin said. "It's good for the team. We knew it was going to come. We haven't faced too much of it this year, knock on wood. It's the first time this season we've lost back-to-back games so there's a lot of things we can work on."

One problem that's been brewing is special teams. In the weekend losses to the Devils and Islanders, the Stars allowed 10 power plays, killing seven. Captain Jamie Benn's hooking penalty 1:07 into overtime led to the Devils' game-winning power-play goal. Benn also took a holding penalty 32 seconds into the game Sunday and a double minor for high sticking later in the first period, which led to Islanders forward Anders Lee's goal that tied the game 1-1. Defenseman Jason Demers was giving a five-minute major and game misconduct penalty for boarding New York forward Cal Clutterbuck, leading to another power-play goal that put the Islanders ahead for good.

"You're going to face adversity," coach Lindy Ruff said. "We haven't faced a lot the first half of the season. For me our discipline in the game has gone a little bit sideways. We took a penalty in overtime that hurt us the other night in Jersey. You can't take that many penalties and survive a hockey game."

Fatigue may also be a factor. Dallas' game Tuesday completes a stretch of three games in four nights and seven in 11 nights.

"I think that's League-wide," center Jason Spezza said. "I think if you look around there's probably a lot of teams going through similar things, but we're definitely not quite as fresh as we've been at other times this season. But that's the nature of the game.

"When you lose games everything gets looked into and micro-looked into and gets analyzed, and when you win it all gets painted over with a brush. So I think we have to be careful we don't overanalyze."

Goalie Kari Lehtonen is also struggling. He's been pulled twice in his past five starts while allowing a combined 14 goals with a 4.08 goals-against average and .874 save percentage. Still, Ruff has been happy with his goaltending tandem of Lehtonen and Antti Niemi.

"I think the goaltending has been a big plus for us in the first 41 games," Ruff said. "I think there's been an improvement; you look at the records. I think [Lehtonen] is going through a little bit of a hiccup right now, if that's what you want to call it, but goaltending has been a plus for us."

The Stars are also accomplishing a goal set at their first practice: A stronger commitment to defense has lowered their goals-against average from 3.13 per game last season (26th in the League) to 2.56 (13th).

"We've definitely matured our game and found ways to stay patient throughout the year," Seguin said. "Being able to win those type games, low-scoring, we've felt comfortable in those. We want to be the best checkers in the League. I think we need to get back to that. We took a couple of games for granted on this trip so far, but we can finish off the trip the right way.

"It's going to start with how this whole team plays in our own end. Obviously [Sunday] night, giving up six goals, that's not how we want to play. We've tried to outscore teams in the past and in this League you have to have to play D-zone first and we know that. We look forward to the challenge [Tuesday] night."

Follow Jon Lane on Twitter: @JonLaneNHL