Tyler Seguin, Jamie Benn benched in ‘embarrassing’ Dallas loss

Before their game against the New York Rangers, coach Lindy Ruff said he needed his best players to lead the slumping Dallas Stars out of their misery.

Instead, Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn didn’t see the ice for the last 12 minutes and 10 seconds of the Stars’ 6-2 loss on Tuesday night.

“We really totally embarrassed ourselves,” said Ruff, who benched his star scorers after playing just four shifts in the third period. “They had a rough night. There’s no getting around it. By the end of the night I just didn’t play them anymore.”

Benn and Seguin were on the ice for three straight Rangers goals that blew open what was a 2-1 lead for New York: Derick Brassard’s goal at 17:23 of the second, set up by soft defense down low; Derek Stepan’s shorthanded breakaway goal at 4:55 of the third; and then Viktor Stalberg’s goal at 7:50 of the third, scored with Stars players looking like mannequins in their own zone.

Benn and Seguin returned to the bench after that Stalberg goal, as the score ballooned to 5-1 for the Rangers. And there they stayed.

“It starts with myself. Starts with our line. We haven’t been playing well this whole trip. Cheating offensively,” said Seguin. “We gotta get home, regroup. Dig deeper than we have been. Come out of this together.”

Benn was more pointed in his self-evaluation.

“It was stupid hockey, and it was not good enough,” said the captain, who also had a tripping minor in the first period. “It’s myself not leading the way. It was pretty much embarrassing. I played a terrible game and let my teammates down.”

The Stars are 2-4-1 in their last seven games, including a humiliating sweep in the New York area to start the new year: Losing 3-2 in overtime to the New Jersey Devils, losing 6-5 to the New York Islanders and then falling 6-3 to the Rangers.

“We knew this was going to happen at some point. Losing a few in a row,” said Seguin.

One of the reasons why Ruff benched his stars was as a symbolic gesture for the rest of the team. But mostly, it was a message to Benn and Seguin.

“They’re not excluded from having rough nights. They’re going through a tough spell. And you need your best players to push you through,” he said.

“There’s not much time to regroup.”

The Stars host the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night. Their lead over the Chicago Blackhawks for the Central lead stands at eight points, with Chicago having a game in-hand.