There are numerous reasons why the Rangers were successful in January and February, and why they are in the heart of the hunt now -- and Zibanejad himself is one of them. His 27 goals since Christmas lead the NHL, and on Monday he was named the League's First Star right on the heels of being named the League's Second Star for the month of February.

Lucky for the Rangers, that is not a distant memory. The Blueshirts rode an 11-4 February, and a League-best 16 wins between Jan. 7 and Feb. 27, into the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race, and they set out on a three-game road trip on Tuesday night in Dallas three points back of the Carolina Hurricanes amid the bumper-car race at the playoff cut line.

"We've just got to remember why we were successful for those two months" in January and February, Zibanejad said.

GAME DAY Mika Zibanejad is coming off a week in which he scored seven goals and was named the NHL's First Star. And still, given everything, he called the week "a bit of a rollercoaster," because on more than one night "we just couldn't get the result that we wanted."

Another reason? The Rangers in those two months were ruthless in road games. The Blueshirts went six weeks -- from Jan. 16 to Feb. 28 -- without losing in a visiting rink, putting together a franchise-record nine consecutive away wins and outscoring their hosts 34-17 along the way.

On Tuesday night, those Rangers pay a visit to a Stars team that has lost five consecutive games overall (0-3-2) and has not scored a goal in more than 134 minutes of hockey.

Which brings up the next reason for the Rangers' success in those two months, one that David Quinn expressed in one word on Monday: "Defense."

The Coach said the before he began his video session with his players on Monday in Westchester, he showed them a stat: "From January 7 through that Montreal game (a 5-2 win on Feb. 27), we were second in the League in goals per game -- and we were fifth in the league in goals against. And that wasn't a small sample -- you're talking about almost two months. We had the most wins in the League, we had the best power play, but it was all stemming from playing good defense. And in the last five games in this stretch we've given up 24 goals."

To be picky, from Jan. 7 through Feb. 27, the Blueshirts were tied with the Bruins for fourth in goals-against, but no matter -- the objective of the Rangers' session on Monday was the same: "This is much more about resetting our mindset -- everybody committed to playing defense, everybody understanding what we're going to have to do and what our recipe is for success. That's what it all comes down to. We just have to be a little bit more thorough defensively."

"I think the structure has been there, but it's just all five guys have to be on the same page," Zibanejad said. "We're hard to play against when we skate, put pressure on guys in our zone, and anywhere really. … That's something we have to get back to, because we know we can score. We've proved that over the year."

One more reason? Igor Shesterkin, who went 9-1 with a .940 save percentage in January and February, his first two months as an NHL goaltender, before his debut season was knocked off course by a Feb. 23 car accident in which he suffered a rib injury. He admitted to some rust in his return against the Devils on Saturday at the Garden, but Quinn admitted that some rust was not unexpected, and the Coach will go right back to his 24-year-old netminder on Tuesday night because "Igor earned that opportunity to get another kick at the can after being off for so long."

Shesterkin will face a Dallas team that has been shut out in its last two games, with its scoreless streak now at 134:26 and, come faceoff Tuesday night, counting.

The Stars have scored the fourth-fewest goals in the League this year, but are in a playoff position because they have allowed the second-fewest. "They're pretty low-scoring," Ryan Strome said, "so we've got to find a way to win those games that we can't score five or six, and try to find a way to win 3-1 or 3-2."

But Dallas' playoff standing looks different now than it did only three weeks ago: The Stars were in a tie with St. Louis at the top of the Western Conference as recently as Feb. 19, but now are closer to the outside looking in than they are to the Central Division and conference-leading Blues. The Stars now look back and see the Jets (four points back), Wild (five points) and Predators (six points) all creeping up from behind.

Nashville narrowed its gap by blanking the Stars twice in a three-day span last week. Dallas has scored once in three games so far in March, none at even strength and none from forwards. Their last goal from a forward came on Feb. 29 by Denis Gurianov, the 20th goal of his rookie season.

Tyler Seguin (50) and Jamie Benn (39) are Nos. 1 and 2 in points; No. 3 is Alexander Radulov, who did not play Saturday against Nashville, and was absent from Dallas' Monday practice, because of an illness.

Anton Khudobin absorbed the hard-luck loss despite allowing just two goals, both on power plays, Thursday in Nashville; Ben Bishop was saddled with Saturday's loss despite one goal-against, also on a power play. Both Dallas' goaltenders are in the League's top 10 in goals-against average and save percentage. Bishop will start Tuesday looking to improve on his 11-2 against the Rangers, thought it was Khudobin who scored the Stars' 5-3 win on Feb. 3 at the Garden.



PROJECTED LINEUPS

RANGERS

33 Di Giuseppe -- 93 Zibanejad -- 89 Buchnevich

10 Panarin -- 16 Strome -- 17 Fast

21 Howden -- 72 Chytil -- 12 Gauthier

48 Lemieux -- 14 McKegg -- 24 Kakko

42 Smith -- 8 Trouba

55 Lindgren -- 23 Fox

18 Staal -- 77 DeAngelo

31 Shesterkin

30 Lundqvist

STARS

14 Benn -- 91 Seguin -- 10 Perry

34 Gurianov -- 24 Hintz -- 16 Pavelski

18 Dickinson -- 12 Faksa -- 15 Comeau

11 Cogliano -- 37 Dowling -- 13 Janmark

23 Lindell -- 3 Klingberg

4 Heiskanen -- 28 Johns

2 Oleksiak -- 5 Sekera

30 Bishop

35 Khudobin



NUMBERS GAME

Since Jan. 16, the Rangers are 9-1 on the road, the Stars are 4-5-1 at home.

Mika Zibanejad has scored goals in four straight games, with nine goals during the streak.

Zibanejad's next goal would make him the 20th different player to have a 40-goal season for the Rangers.

Igor Shesterkin is 3-0/2.07/.946 in three career NHL road games.

Tony DeAngelo has six points in the last four games and 53 this season, most by a Ranger blueliner since Brian Leetch in 2001-02.

Jacob Trouba has 13 career points against Dallas, tied for his most against any opponent.

During Dallas' five-game skid, the Stars are 2-for-14 on power plays, while opponents are 7-for-16.

Dallas' 2-0 loss in Nashville on Thursday, followed immediately by their 1-0 home loss to the Predators on Saturday, were the fifth and sixth times the Stars have been shut out this season. Only the Devils (eight) and Red Wings (seven) have been blanked more often.

Prior to the back-to-back shutout losses, Stars captain Jamie Benn had a season-long six-game point streak going.

Blake Comeau has 14 goals and 24 points in 36 career games against the Rangers, far and away his highest point totals against any NHL opponent.

Ben Bishop career vs. Rangers: 11-2, 1.77 GAA, .936 save%

Anton Khudobin career vs. Rangers: 2-3-2, 1.87 GAA, .941 save%



PLAYERS TO WATCH

Pavel Buchnevich rides a five-game point streak onto the road trip, and has 19 points in his last 19 games. With two assists on Saturday the 24-year-old set a new career high with 44 points; one of those was a goal against the Stars on Feb. 3. Buchnevich has five points in four career games against Dallas.

Denis Gurianov, Dallas' first-round pick (12th overall) in 2015, is tied for second among NHL rookies with 20 goals this season. The 22-year-old Russian scored six times in his first 31 games this season, then 14 times in the next 32 games.