Blue Jackets at Stars
Although they came within a whisker of winning their fifth straight contest in their last outing, the Dallas Stars attempt to seize their season-high fourth consecutive home victory when the Columbus Blue Jackets pay a visit on Tuesday. Captain Jamie Benn scored a goal and Tyler Seguin added an assist in Dallas' 5-4 overtime loss to Chicago on Sunday. The former collected a goal and three assists while the latter recorded his fifth career hat trick in the Stars' 4-2 victory over the Blue Jackets on Oct. 14.
Sergei Bobrovsky suffered the loss in the teams' first meeting to fall to 6-1-1 in his career versus the Stars but looks to bounce back after yielding a season-high six goals against Arizona on Saturday. The Blue Jackets answered their 6-3 setback to the Coyotes by posting a 4-3 triumph at Colorado for their 11th win in 14 games. Ryan Johansen scored in his third straight contest to extend his point streak to seven games (three goals, four assists) and also tallied twice in the teams' first meeting.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Columbus), FSN Southwest (Dallas)
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (17-17-3): Center Mark Letestu and right wing Cam Atkinson reportedly are inching closer to a return, prompting Columbus to place rugged forward Adam Cracknell on waivers Monday. Letestu recorded three goals and two assists in nine games before being sidelined after having surgery for groin and abdominal injuries on Dec. 2. Atkinson has been out since suffering an upper-body injury versus Boston on Dec. 27.
ABOUT THE STARS (18-14-6): Erik Cole scored two goals and set up another on Sunday for Dallas, which failed to hold four different one-goal leads against the Blackhawks and fell to 8-1-1 in its last 10 games. "We're playing pretty solid right now," defenseman Alex Goligoski said after his two-assist performance versus Chicago. "Just have to find better ways to lock those down." Kari Lehtonen suffered the loss to drop to 11-3-2 with two shutouts in his last 16 decisions, but he owns a stingy 1.92 goals-against average in 12 career meetings with Columbus.
OVERTIME
1. Columbus C Brandon Dubinsky has collected two goals and five assists during his four-game point streak.
2. Dallas C Shawn Horcoff is eligible to return from injured reserve after missing three games with an illness.
3. Blue Jackets D Fedor Tyutin will play in his 700th career game on Tuesday.