The Dallas Stars are showing some cracks in their armor heading into the final month of the season, and the 6-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils has raised some questions moving forward.

After blowing a 3-0 lead to the Florida Panthers Tuesday, the Dallas Stars were hoping to bounce back in a big way against the New Jersey Devils.

It's safe to say that after a 6-2 loss, that did not happen at all.

Wyatt Johnston kicked off the game with a goal almost immediately to put the Stars in front, but the team looked flat for most of the game after that. Dallas kept it 2-2 after the first period, but the Devils broke open a three goal lead in the second before finishing it off with one more goal in the third.

Despite severely outshooting New Jersey after trailing 5-2, the Stars dug themselves too deep into a hole to recover from. Dallas has shown resiliency throughout the season, but it caught up to them this time, leaving a sour taste in everyone's mouth going into Saturday's game where Mike Modano will be memorialized with a statue outside the American Airlines Center.

Allowing four goals in a row to lose in regulation to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday and following it up with the shocking team defensive effort Thursday has raised some questions about this team as the playoffs draw nearer. Dallas was overtaken by Colorado for first place in the Central Division Wednesday, and the pressure is on to keep winning or get passed up by the Avalanche and potentially even the Winnipeg Jets.

Here are the most pressing questions facing the Stars right now:

1. What will the defensive pairs be in Game 1 of the playoffs?

After trading for Chris Tanev at the trade deadline, Dallas has gone with these pairings:

Harley-Heiskanen
Lindell-Tanev
Suter-Hakanpaa

After two games in a row of poor defensive effort from the whole team, it is safe to start wondering if these pairings will stick from now until the end of the regular season.

In the third period against the Devils, head coach Pete DeBoer switched Thomas Harley with Tanev and put Esa Lindell with Miro Heiskanen to try and get a spark going. The Harley-Heiskanen pairing had an uncharacteristically poor game, with Heiskanen even putting a puck into his own net to give the Devils their second goal of the game.

While Heiskanen was out with an injury, Harley excelled with Joel Hanley, and double-shifted with almost every other defenseman on the team. Since then, those two have been paired together almost exclusively, and most of the results have been excellent. But if it is not going well, Harley has proven that he can carry another pairing if asked.

A lot of projections had Tanev paired with Heiskanen, but that pairing hasn't seen the ice together yet. Heiskanen is still playing on his off side with Harley, and Tanev would put him back on his strong side. This could still be an option worth exploring, which would most likely move Harley down to the second pair with Lindell.

The third paring of Ryan Suter and Jani Hakanpaa were only victimized for the fifth Devils goal Thursday, but the duo has left something to be desired even as a third pairing. Before the Tanev trade, Nils Lundkvist and Ryan Suter looked good together, but Lundkvist has been scratched ever since, save for the game in Anaheim where Dallas went with seven defensemen.

Whatever the answer is, the team defense needs to be better than what was on display Thursday.

2. Is it time to be concerned with Jake Oettinger's save percentage?

Oettinger was pulled Thursday after giving up four goals on ten shots. While DeBoer was hesitant to blame the loss on goaltending, Oettinger's save percentage now sits at .899% for the season.

On one hand, Oettinger has won seven of his last 12 starts in the past 30 days, but has a goals-against average of 3.10 and a .881% save percentage. The Stars have been able to outscore any goaltending problems in plenty of games this season, but scoring always goes down in the playoffs and more pressure rides on a team's goalie making clutch saves at clutch times.

In four of the last seven starts, Oettinger has allowed four or more goals against. In the three other games, he has allowed two or fewer.

Is it just an up and down period for the All-Star goaltender, or is it a more troubling sign of an inconsistent season? The Stars hope that he can get into a groove at the right time, because at his best, he could steal any playoff series by himself.

3. When will Tyler Seguin be back to help the offense?

Seguin has been out since Feb. 22 against Ottawa, and the offense has felt his absence.

Matt Duchene and Mason Marchment lost the right wing to what was considered one of the best lines in the NHL up to that point, and have looked lost at times without him.

Sam Steel started on their line Thursday, but Craig Smith was swapped with Steel mid-game. It has been a revolving door trying to fill that void, and the return of Seguin is becoming a necessity more and more each game. If Dallas gets that line going again, there will be no questions about who fills out the top nine.

With the play of Johnston and Jamie Benn since Logan Stankoven was added to their line, the Stars could have three top lines on any given night. Add in the return of Evgenii Dadonov, and even the fourth line will have options to swap in and swap out a player every so often.

Up next for the Stars is a big Saturday night game against the Los Angeles Kings, where the team will honor the greatest player in Dallas Stars history, Mike Modano by unveiling his new statue across from Dirk Nowitzki outside the arena. The Stars will have extra pressure to put the last two losses behind them and put on a good showing.

Make sure you bookmark THN's Dallas Stars site for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more.

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