Stars pull away from Blue Jackets for 6-3 win

Friday, November 18, 2005

For close to 50 minutes Friday night the Columbus Blue Jackets gave the Dallas Stars all they could handle, but the Stars scored three goals in a six minute span beat Columbus 6-3 at the American Airlines Center, and earn their fourth straight win.

Brenden Morrow, Bill Guerin, Jussi Jokinen, Jere Lehtinen, Stephane Robidas and Stu Barnes all scored for the Stars, who won for the seventh time in eight games and moved into a tie with Los Angeles for the Pacific Division lead.

Lehtinen picked up the game-winner for the third straight game. Marty Turco stopped 15 of 18 shots on the night.

"It would have been tough to play lousy after winning three on the road," Stars center Jason Arnott, who had two assists on the night, told the Associated Press. "Our fans wouldn't like that."

The loss was the fourth in a row for the Blue Jackets, who have also lost eight of their last nine games.

"Scoring three goals on the road and losing is pretty disappointing," Columbus coach Gerard Gallant told the AP. "But I was proud of the way the guys battled back and stayed in it."

The Stars took a 1-0 lead by scoring a power play goal in their 11th straight game. After Guerin sent a pass from behind the Columbus goal, Jason Arnott put a shot on net and Morrow scored on the rebound at 7:46 of the first period.

The Blue Jackets had a full 2:00 of five-on-three power play time later in the first, but were unable to generate much. Their best chance came on a hard shot from center Mark Hartigan from the slot, but Turco made a nice glove save.

The Blue Jackets did cash in on a power play chance to tie the game at 7:44 of the second when Nikolai Zherdev sent a centering pass from the corner and a pinching Bryan Berard knocked it into the open side of the net.

The Stars retook the lead less than two minutes later. After a Columbus turnover in the neutral zone, Arnott skated into the Blue Jackets zone and sent a cross-ice pass to Guerin, who popped it into the net at the 9:01 mark.

But the Blue Jackets pulled even at 16:16 of the second with their second power play goal of the game and it came just as the first penalty of a five-on-three advantage expired. David Vyborny sent a pass from behind the net to Sergei Fedorov and Fedorov sent a cross-ice pass to Berard, who beat Turco with a wrist shot from about 35 feet.

The Stars regained the lead with a power play goal 5:07 into the third period. After Philippe Boucher put a shot on net, Columbus goalie Martin Prusek couldn't handle the rebound and Jokinen swept in and fired the puck into the net.

The Blue Jackets pulled even 1:24 later during a delayed penalty call on the Stars. Jason Chimera found a wide open Duvie Westcott in the slot and the Columbus defenseman beat Turco to make it a 3-3 game.

The Stars struck again on the power play to regain the lead at 9:06 of the period. After Jokinen won a puck battle along the boards, he got the puck to Niko Kapanen in the corner and Kapanen sent a pass to Lehtinen, who scored his 11th goal of the season from the slot.

The Stars pushed the lead to 5-3 with their fifth shorthanded goal of the season. After a Columbus turnover in the neutral zone Mike Modano and Robidas busted in on a two-on-one break and Robidas took a pass from Modano and bounced a puck off Prusek into the net.

Barnes scored off the rebound of a Antti Miettinen shot at 15:10 to push the lead to 6-3.

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