Merzlikins stars in Blue Jackets’ 5-1 win over Stars – The Hockey Writers Columbus Blue Jackets Latest news, analysis and more

The Columbus Blue Jackets (3-3-0) defeat the Dallas Stars (3-3-0) 5-1 at American Airlines Center on Tuesday evening.

Adam Fantilli, Boone Jenner, Denton Mateychuk and Dimitri Voronkov scored for the Blue Jackets. Elvis Merzlikins made 22 saves. While the save count may not reflect a great night, Merzlikins slammed the door shut at key moments during the game to give the Blue Jackets a chance to pull away in the third period.

Tyler Seguin scored for the Stars. Jake Oettinger made 24 saves.

Summary of the game

Fantilli and the Blue Jackets took advantage of a failed clearing attempt by the Stars to open the scoring at 4:33 of the opening period. Kent Johnson fed the puck to Jenner in the right corner, and Jenner found Fantilli at the right faceoff point. Fantilli fired the puck over Oettinger’s left shoulder, just inside the crossbar, for his second goal of the season.

The Blue Jackets struck again with 78 seconds left in the period, this time on the power play. Charlie Coyle found Jenner all alone with a cross-crease pass. As Jenner swiped for the pass, the puck went off his right skate and into the wide-open net.

The Stars were outplayed in the first inning and were defeated 14-5 by the Blue Jackets. In the second, Dallas turned the tables with 13 shots to Columbus’ six.

Seguin finally broke through at 11:58, bringing the Stars to within one with a deflected shot from Colin Blackwell that got past Merzlikins for his second of the season.

Mateychuk restored the Blue Jackets’ two-goal lead at 7:21 of the third period with a wrist shot up the middle that beat Oettinger after the Stars couldn’t control the loose puck in the defensive zone.

The Blue Jackets scored their second power play goal of the night to take a 4-1 lead, this time on a Voronkov snap from the high slot.

Kent Johnson scored an empty-netter for a 5-1 final.

The Blue Jackets outscored the Stars 29-23 and went 2-for-2 on the power play. The Stars went 0-for-2 with the man advantage.

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Then the Stars will host the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday, while the The Blue Jackets will host the Washington Capitals on Friday.