Dallas Stars 4, Columbus Blue Jackets 2

Stars rebound from horrendous loss with convincing road win.

The Dallas Stars rebounded nicely from a poor effort in their previous game, defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 Thursday night. The win improved Dallas to 28-23-2 on the season, temporarily tied with the Minnesota Wild for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. The Blue Jackets fell to 15-33-6.

Photo not provided by the Columbus Blue Jackets

Columbus was too busy rolling in his grave to be available for comment.

Dallas got on the board early, when Jamie Benn scooped up a loose rebound and slammed it into the net for his 16th goal and a 1-0 lead just a minute and a half in. Less than three minutes later, Alex Goligoski stuffed a ripe rebound of a Tomas Vincour shot in for his 7th of the season and a quick 2-0 lead.

The Blue Jackets pushed back in the first period but were stoned by Dallas netminder Kari Lehtonen, who stopped all 10 shots he faced in the early frame.

The second period started with Stephane Robidas scoring just seconds after a powerplay expired for his fourth goal of the year and a commanding 3-0 lead. Unfortunately, a combination of lazy play and questionable officiating led to Dallas getting hit with three consecutive penalties in the middle of the second period. Columbus scored easily on two of them, with Vinny Prospal scoring his tenth 8:32 in and Rick Nash adding his 18th four minutes later.

Dallas was able to shut it down in the third period, however, limiting the Blue Jackets to just three shots until a wild flurry in the final minute of play. Jamie Benn stole the Blue Jackets' final play and whipped it into an empty net for his 17th of the year and the finishing touch on a 4-2 win.

Lehtonen was stellar throughout, stopping 26 of 28 shots for his 20th win of the season. Columbus goalie Curtis Sanford made 31 saves on 34 shots and fell to 10-13-4.

Dallas' next game is tomorrow night in Buffalo, where they will face the 23-24-6 Sabres. The Stars have yet to win on the second game of a back-to-back all season.