Blue Jackets 6, Stars 3
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Left winger Scott Hartnell scored midway through the third period off a horrendous turnover by Dallas goaltender Antti Niemi, a goal that sent sealed the Columbus Blue Jackets' 6-3 win over the Stars on Tuesday in Nationwide Arena.
The Stars were lurking behind the fragile Blue Jackets all night, but their hopes for a comeback seemed to crumble at 9:57 of the third after Niemi's blunder and Hartnell's ensuing score made it 5-3.
He came out of the net to play a puck, but passed it directly to Hartnell at the top of the left circle.
Hartnell gathered the puck, took two strides and scored into an empty net as Niemi scrambled to recover his position. It was the Jackets' third two-goal lead of the game.
Winger Boone Jenner, Matt Calvert, Brandon Saad and Rene Bourque and defenseman Kevin Connauton also scored for the Blue Jackets, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
Bourque's goal was an empty-netter with 35 seconds remaining to cap the scoring.
Center Brandon Dubinsky and defenseman Fedor Tyutin each added two assists, while goaltender Curtis McElhinney stopped 39 of 42 shots to earn his second win of the season.
The Stars got goals from left winger Patrick Sharp, and centers Colton Sceviour and Tyler Seguin.
Goaltender Kari Lehtonen started for Dallas, but was pulled after stopping 11 of 14 shots in the first period. His replacement, Niemi, stopped 16 of 18.
The Blue Jackets took a 1-0 lead only 35 seconds into the game.
Jenner started a mad scramble in front of the net with the initial shot on Lehtonen, and he ended the scramble by burying his 14th goal of the season under Lehtonen's extended left pad.
The Stars made it 1-1 at 6:03 of the first in much the same fashion. Sceviour started a flurry of shots on McElhinney, then was rewarded for staying in front of the net when the puck found him for an easy goal off his backhand.
The Blue Jackets reclaimed the lead 2-1 at 7:28 of the first when Connauton struck against his former club. Connauton, who hadn't scored in 32 games, unleashed a one-timer from the right point off a nifty set-up from left winger Nick Foligno.
The Jackets pushed the lead to 3-1 with 25 seconds left in the second period, when Calvert one-timed a feed from center William Karlsson from the left circle.
At 8:23 of the second, the Stars pulled to 3-2 after Seguin, left winger Jamie Benn and defenseman John Klingberg converted a 3-on-2 rush.
Benn fed Seguin the puck in stride, and he scored off the rush from the slot over McElhinney's glove. It was Seguin's 21st goal of the season, three of them coming in two games against the Blue Jackets.
At 18:43 of the second, the Blue Jackets regained a two-goal lead when Saad buried a loose puck from the doorstep to make it 4-2.
NOTES: Blue Jackets LW Nick Foligno returned after a three-game absence with a lower-body injury. He came back into the lineup on Columbus' fourth line, along with C Ryan Johansen and RW Gregory Campbell. ... The Stars' 27-7-3 record is the best record after 37 games in franchise history. ... Blue Jackets G Sergei Bobrovsky missed his 10th game since suffering a groin injury on Dec. 10. ... Six Dallas players currently rank among the top 12 in the NHL's plus-minus leaders: LW Jamie Benn plus-20, D Jason Demers plus-16, C Tyler Seguin plus-16, D John Klingberg plus-16, D Johnny Oduya plus-15, D Alex Goligoski plus-14.