Blue Jackets pull away in 3rd period, extend Stars' skid

Boone Jenner, Adam Fantilli and Kent Johnson each had a goal and an assist for the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets in a 5-1 win against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday. Denton Mateychuk and Dmitri Voronkov also scored for the Blue Jackets, who scored three third-period goals to seal their second consecutive victory. Elvis Merzlikins made 22 saves. Tyler Seguin scored and Jake Oettinger stopped 24 shots for the Stars, who have lost three straight after opening the season with a three-game winning streak. Columbus dominated the first period, outshooting Dallas 14-5 while staking a 2-0 lead. Fantilli opened the scoring at 4:33. He intercepted Mikko Rantanen's clearing attempt along the left wall and rimmed it around the end boards to the other side, where Johnson collected it and sent it to Jenner below the goal line. The Blue Jackets captain quickly sent it to Fantilli in the right circle for a rising snap shot that beat Oettinger over his left arm to make it 1-0. Jenner connected on the power play to double the lead at 18:42. Charlie Coyle dished a pass from the bottom of the left circle through the legs of Stars defenseman Lian Bichsel to an uncovered Jenner in the crease on the far side for the redirect. Dallas pressured in the second period, jumping out to a 7-0 shot advantage through the first five-plus minutes of the frame. Columbus didn't record its first shot on goal of the period until nearly eight minutes in. The hosts finally broke through at 11:58 of the middle frame. Colin Blackwell took a shot from the top of the left circle that Seguin deflected from the doorstep, slicing the deficit to 2-1. The Blue Jackets added on in the third period. Yegor Chinakhov spotted Mateychuk coming into the zone, and Mateychuk took the pass toward the slot before snapping it past Oettinger's glove to make it 3-1 at 7:21. Voronkov then increased the lead to 4-1 with a power-play goal at 14:26, when he put a snap shot from the slot through Oettinger's pads. Johnson added an empty-net goal at 17:00 for the 5-1 final. –Field Level Media

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)