The Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Dallas Stars 5-1 on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center, improving to 3-3-0 while dropping Dallas to 3-3-0. Boone Jenner, Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson each recorded a goal and an assist in the victory. Elvis Merzlikins made 22 saves to anchor the win.
The Blue Jackets jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. Adam Fantilli opened the scoring at 4:33 with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle past Jake Oettinger, assisted by Jenner and Johnson. Boone Jenner extended the advantage to 2-0 at 18:42 on the power play when a pass from Charlie Coyle deflected off his skate into the net. Columbus outshot Dallas 14-5 in the period.
The Stars responded in the second period, outshooting the Blue Jackets 13-6. Tyler Seguin cut the deficit to 2-1 at 11:58 by redirecting a pass from Colin Blackwell at the back post for his second goal of the season.
Columbus regained control in the third. Denton Mateychuk restored the two-goal lead at 7:21 with a shot from the high slot after a turnover by Dallas defenseman Thomas Harley. Dmitri Voronkov made it 4-1 at 14:26 on the power play with a snapshot from the high slot. Kent Johnson sealed the 5-1 final with an empty-net goal at 17:00.
The Blue Jackets outshot the Stars 29-23 overall and went 2-for-2 on the power play, while Dallas was 0-for-2. Merzlikins made 22 saves, while Oettinger stopped 24 shots.
"We didn’t give up a whole lot," Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said. "They’re a tricky team to play against."
Merzlikins added, "We are seriously working hard and we care about each other."
Stars forward Tyler Seguin reflected, "We had seven turnovers in the first period, odd-man rushes. That’s what we’re trying to get out of our game this year."
Defenseman Miro Heiskanen noted, "We have to be a lot better. We were playing too much in our end."
In milestones, Jenner notched his 82nd multipoint game, passing Cam Atkinson for second in franchise history. Fantilli scored his 45th career goal, moving past Nikolay Zherdev for fourth most by a Blue Jackets skater before age 22.