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Stars rally to tie late, top Blue Jackets in shootout Wednesday, October 17, 2007 The Dallas Stars relied on a familiar formula to get them their first road win of the season. Captain Brenden Morrow scored a goal late in regulation to tie, and then in the shootout Jussi Jokinen scored the lone goal and Mike Smith was a perfect three-for-three to carry the Stars to a 3-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena Wednesday night. "It was a timely win for our team right now," said Smith. "We've been going through some struggles. Tonight was a big win in the building process. It was nice to come from behind and get the two points." With Smith pulled from the net for the extra attacker Mike Ribeiro sent a pass from behind the net to Brenden Morrow, who scored from the slot with 1:11 left in regulation to tie the game at 2-2. After a scoreless overtime, Blue Jackets goalie Fredrik Norrena stopped Sergei Zubov on the Stars' first shootout attempt. Jokinen, the second Dallas shooter, made a nice forehand to backhand move to tuck the puck just inside the post for the only goal in the shootout. Smith stopped Columbus' David Vyborny, Jason Chimera and Rick Nash. Smith, who came off injured reserve earlier in the day, came up big for the Stars in the first period. He allowed a goal on the first shot of the game, but was sharp to help keep the Stars in the game against the Blue Jackets, who had a lot of early jump. "He was anxious to play," Stars coach Dave Tippett said of Smith, who hasn't played since allowing four goals in his only start against Nashville on October 6. "As coaches we had a hunch he would have a real good game." Jokinen scored the other regulation goal and Smith stopped 33 of 35 shots for the Stars, who improved to 3-2-2 on the season. Columbus, which had won its first two home games of the season by shutouts, fell to 2-2-1 on the season. “We didn’t put the hammer down and we paid for it in end," said Columbus coach Ken Hitchcock. "We had a chance numerous times in the first half of the game and when you have a 2-1 lead and are given odd man rushes, you have to score and that’s what we didn’t do. It came back to haunt us in the end." Columbus struck first, scoring on a two-on-zero break to take a 1-0 lead 1:42 into the game. Nikolai Zherdev chipped a puck past Trevor Daley at the Columbus blue line, sending him and Nash in all alone on Smith and Nash finished it off the chance with a wrist shot from the left circle. The Stars bounced back with less than two minutes later when Stu Barnes sent a pass from the right half-wall to the front of the net, where Jokinen knocked it past Norrena. Smith came up with some sharp saves to keep Columbus, which had 17 shots in the first 20 minutes, off the board the rest of the period. His best came on Manny Malhotra. There was no scoring in the second, but there were some highlights. The save of the second period belonged to Blue Jackets defenseman Rostislav Klesla, who kept the puck from going into the Columbus net after his teammate, Curtis Glencross, accidentally directed Stars center Mike Ribeiro's pass on goal. Stars defenseman Sergei Zubov took a roughing penalty in the second period after Columbus forward Jared Boll ran into Smith. Zubov put Boll in a headlock. Stars forward Brad Winchester, who had been nailed hard by Boll earlier in the game, dropped the gloves with the Blue Jackets forward later in the period. The Stars dominated play for the most part in the third, but the Blue Jackets tallied on the power play at the 8:24 mark to take a 2-1 lead. After Smith missed on poke check attempt, Blue Jackets forward Jiri Novotny was able to poke the puck into the net.
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