The Dallas Stars entered Tuesday night’s game as the number one team in the league. Their opponent, the Columbus Blue Jackets, were the team holding the worst record in the NHL. Columbus was on the second night of a back to back to boot.
Columbus Starts Strong
Kari Lehtonen started in goal for the Dallas Stars with a record of 10-1-0 and a .911 save percentage, to go along with a 2.63 goals-against average. In the Columbus net was rookie Joonas Korpisalo, starting only his second NHL game.
The Blue Jackets played like a team possessed in the first period. Columbus was puck-jacking the Stars constantly, out skating them, and out shooting them 16-8 in the period. The game was locked at zeros, until Johnny Oduya ripped a slap shot on net. It blew behind the Columbus rookie goaltender with 1:57 left in the period to give the Stars the lead. Lehtonen looked sharp, with numerous big saves early on keeping his team in the game. Dallas had a total of ten giveaways in the first period.
Big Second Period Propels Dallas
The first penalty of the game did not’t come until four minutes into the second, when Stars defenseman Patrick Nemeth took a high sticking minor on Brandon Dubinsky. Columbus made no mistake on the high tip from Scott Hartnell to tie the game at one roughly 30 seconds into the power play. The Stars almost restored their one goal lead shortly after on a rebound opportunity. Valeri Nichushkin drove the net swinging for the loose puck, but the Columbus goaltender made a desperation save to keep the score tied at one.
The Starts would retake the lead when defenseman Alex Goligoski buried a fortuitous bounce off the boards behind the Columbus goal with under seven minutes remaining in the second period. John Klingberg would then hit a stretch pass from his own circle to spring a streaking Tyler Seguin on a break-away. Seguin made no mistake, going five-hole for his 16th goal of the game. The very next play on a strong fore-check saw Seguin bury a shot from the slot for his second goal in 32 seconds to strengthen the gap to 4-1 in favor of Dallas with less than three minutes to go.
With less than a minute remaining in the second period, Matt Calvert broke in on a shorthanded break-away. Lehtonen would shut the door to keep the three goal lead heading into the intermission. Dallas coach Lindy Ruff juggled the lines to start the period and it seemed to spark his team. Dallas exploded with three goals and shrunk the shot differential to 28-27 in favor of the Blue Jackets. It looked like the Blue Jackets started to lose their legs midway through the middle frame, and that’s when the Stars began to pour it on. The Stars scored all of their goals in the final seven minutes of the second period.
Final News and Notes
The Blue Jackets made a goalie change to start the third. Curtis McElhinny comes in for the young Korpisalo. The Stars tack on another one when Mattias Janmark steals the puck in the corner from Denis Savard, walks out front and flips a back hander over top of McElhinny less than two minutes into the frame.
Jamie Benn logged his 400th career point, collecting an assist on a Tyler Seguin tally. Kari Lehtonen tallied an assist tonight and is the highest scoring active goalie in the league. Dallas is now 8-0 in games after a loss. Scott Hartnell continues to produce for Columbus, popping in his 13th goal of the season. The shots ended in the Blue Jackets favor 35-34 with the Jackets going one for two on the power play. The Columbus penalty kill looked strong, shutting out the Stars' three power play bids.
Dallas will play again on Thursday, hosting Johnny Gaudreau and the red hot Calgary Flames. Columbus also plays Thursday night, playing visitor to the Mike Smith-less Arizona Coyotes.