No stranger to pressure, Lehtonen embraces chance to lift Stars

And so, it comes down to this.
The former Dallas Stars starting goaltender, playing the role of backup since the Ben Bishop signing this summer, is now charged with saving a season that seems to be slipping away.
What's not to like if you're Kari Lehtonen?
It's hardly the script that anyone connected to the Stars would have imagined with fewer than 10 games left in the regular season.
This was supposed to be Bishop's time.

It was why they acquired the two-time Vezina Trophy finalist from Los Angeles during the offseason and then immediately signed him to a six-year deal. The expectation was that he would backstop a renovated, revamped Stars team to the playoffs.
Except Bishop is out of the lineup, at least for two weeks and quite possibly the rest of the regular season. He missed five games after Dan Hamhuis fell on his knee against Ottawa two weeks ago, and came back and played against the Senators on Friday before leaving midway through the first period Sunday following a sensational glove save on Bryan Little of the Winnipeg Jets. Bishop appeared to re-aggravate that knee injury and he left the team to return to Dallas as the Stars closed out a disappointing six-game road trip Tuesday with a 4-3 loss at Washington.
Head coach Ken Hitchcock said the earliest they will re-evaluate Bishop is two weeks. Best-case scenario he would be able to play in the final week of the regular season. Best case.
Now, the reins have been handed over to Lehtonen, who was the second-overall pick in the 2002 draft by the Atlanta Thrashers.
It's his show. And while the script wasn't what he had expected, it's now his to write as he will.

"I'm excited to play," Lehtonen said. "And, you know, stakes are high, so what's not to be excited about? Just I got a little taste of it (during the) last couple of weeks. Just need to keep going, you know?
"That's why I'm not like, oh my god, what's going to happen?"
He is 34 years old. He has embraced his new role, playing infrequently for much of the season. He worked diligently with goaltending coach Jeff Reese during the long layoffs between starts, and then rose to the occasion time and again when called upon. He has repeatedly delivered key victories that helped the Stars build a modest cushion in the standings that, in part, kept them close as they stumbled through a critical season-long road stretch, going 0-4-2.
Now, staying close won't be enough.
Realistically, the Stars will need to go 6-2 over their final eight games to earn a playoff berth. Maybe a point or two less. Maybe not.
Funny how things turn out, though. Lehtonen is in the final year of his contract and certainly has played well enough that he will garner attention from Dallas or some other club looking for a solid, veteran backup.
But this opportunity, well, who knows how it could change people's view of Lehtonen. Depending, of course, how it all unfolds.
Not that he is looking at it that way.
"I just have to focus on every game as their own and I'm not going to have as much practice time and special things, (which is) what I've been doing most of the year, so that's kind of the biggest change," Lehtonen said. "But just knowing that I've been on this side of the situation, too, makes me more comfortable. But still, every damn game is tough and a big challenge.
"That's NHL hockey for you."

As for what this stretch could lead to, how it could impact him down the road, Lehtonen's future began with the Capitals on Tuesday, and then it will continue with the Boston Bruins on Friday after that and so on until the string has been played out. One way or another.
"I'm just looking at it as just one game at a time. There's no big picture (with) what I'm focused on. I just want to give all I got on the ice there," he said.
If there's one goalie who understands the dynamics that face Lehtonen, it's veteran NHL netminder and longtime analyst Brian Boucher.
Boucher was injured in December 2009 and was basically the forgotten man in Philadelphia until Michael Leighton went down with an ankle injury in March. At the time, the Flyers were scratching and clawing for a playoff berth.
Boucher came back into the net and helped guide the Flyers to a spot in the postseason, winning Game 82 against the New York Rangers in a shootout. He then became part of a rotating goaltending group that saw Philadelphia advance to the Stanley Cup final before losing in six games to Chicago.
"For Lehtonen, he's been playing in the last little while," said Boucher, who was part of the national "NHL on NBC" crew that covered Dallas' 3-1 loss to Pittsburgh on the opening night of their road trip March 11.
"I actually liked his game in Pittsburgh. He fought to find pucks. I liked his compete level."
Boucher thinks that Lehtonen has benefitted from playing more sparingly in a more structured environment provided by Hitchcock and his staff.
"I still think he's a quality goaltender," Boucher added. "I think he has the ability to get hot."
In fact, Boucher feels the bigger issue for the Stars is in the scoring depth and not the goaltending.

"That's why you've got a guy like Kari Lehtonen there with Bishop," Boucher said. "This is where it's valuable."
An interesting sidebar to the potential comparisons to Boucher's star turn down the stretch for the Flyers, and what might be ahead for Lehtonen is that the two shared the same goaltending coach in Reese.
Cue the "Twilight Zone" music.
So, can there be such a thing as a defining moment for a veteran who owns 307 NHL regular-season wins?
Why not? Certainly this stretch run, as difficult as it seems, will represent a defining moment of sorts for every player in the Dallas room.
"It's been hard last couple of weeks. We've been trying different things to figure out what's the best way in each game to get those wins," Lehtonen said. "Sometimes it just it feels so damn hard and anything you do seems to be going wrong, and it's tough mentally for everybody. But every day, we get up and go to the battle again.
"The good thing is that we're still right there."
One thing is for certain: Lehtonen won't have to worry about fatigue.
"I have a good base you can fall back to if things are not going my way," he said.
"I think a lot just mentally. I feel fresher than I ever felt after 70-whatever games of the season, so that's a good thing also."
This story was not subject to approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Scott Burnside is a senior digital correspondent for DallasStars.com. You can follow him on Twitter @OvertimeScottB, and listen to his podcast.