COLUMBUS, Ohio — Zach Werenski scored his first goal of the season with 3:14 left in regulation, and Valeri Nichushkin and Kent Johnson scored in the shootout as the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied to beat the Dallas Stars 2-1 on Thursday night, Nov. 5, at Nationwide Arena. The win was Columbus’ second in a row and avenged a 3-1 loss to the Stars in Dallas last Saturday, according to Reuters.
The game was scoreless deep into the third period thanks to a goaltending duel between Columbus’ Cam Talbot and Dallas’ Casey DeSmith. Mikko Rantanen finally broke through at 6:27 of the third, scoring his team-leading ninth goal of the season after a turnover in front of the Columbus net, with Wyatt Johnston assisting, the Associated Press reported. Talbot finished with 27 saves, while DeSmith stopped 29 shots for Dallas.
Columbus pushed back hard after falling behind. Werenski, who had not scored in the Blue Jackets’ first 13 games and had rung a shot off the post earlier in the night, took a feed from Johnson and buried a backhand past DeSmith at 16:46 of the third to tie it 1-1, according to Reuters. The goal extended Werenski’s point streak to five games, and Johnson’s assist extended his own point streak to six games, the Associated Press reported.
“I feel like we’ve definitely been playing well the past [four] games,” Werenski told The Columbus Dispatch. “I feel like coming home against two good teams [Colorado and Dallas] and getting four points is massive.” Head coach Rick Bowness told The Columbus Dispatch he was most impressed by how his team responded after falling behind 1-0, saying Columbus put sustained pressure on Dallas and created a string of chances before Werenski tied the game.
Neither team scored in overtime, sending the game to a shootout. Nichushkin scored on a backhand as Columbus’ second shooter, and Johnson scored between DeSmith’s legs for his second game-deciding shootout goal of the season, the Associated Press reported. Talbot stopped the only on-target Dallas attempt, from Tyler Seguin, to close out the win, according to The Columbus Dispatch.
The result improved Columbus to 5-0 this season in games decided beyond regulation, according to Reuters, and Talbot earned his fourth straight win in net. The Blue Jackets improved to 7-7-0 with the victory, while Dallas fell to 9-5-2 and saw its two-game winning streak halted, the Associated Press reported.
Columbus has little time to savor the win. The Blue Jackets travel to Buffalo on Friday, Nov. 6, to complete a back-to-back set against the Sabres, according to The Columbus Dispatch. Dallas returns home to host San Jose on Saturday. For a Columbus team that has now beaten Colorado and Dallas on home ice in the same week, Friday’s game is a chance to climb above .500 for the first time this season.
Photo: Eric, CC BY-SA 2.0