PREVIEW: STARS @ BLUE JACKETS
Playing for the third time in four nights, Lindy Ruff's Dallas Stars (27-7-3) are in Ohio on Tuesday to take on John Tortorella's Columbus Blue Jackets (13-22-3). Game time at Nationwide Arena is 6:00 p.m. CT. The game will be televised locally on Fox Sports Southwest.
This is the second and final game of the season series between the teams. On Dec. 15, the Stars skated to a 5-1 home victory in which they were actually outplayed by Columbus for a significant portion of the game despite a final score suggestive of Dallas dominance.
The Stars enter this game coming off gaining three of four possible points in a home-and-home split with the St. Louis Blues. On Saturday, Dallas dropped 3-2 road decision via shootout. The next night, Dallas blanked the Blues, 3-0. Kari Lehtonen recorded a 22-save shutout as Dallas got goals by Patrick Sharp (power play), Jamie Benn (power play) and Cody Eakin (empty net).
The Blue Jackets, who are 13-15-2 since John Tortorella took over as head coach following an 0-7-0 start to the season, are coming off a 3-2 regulation road loss on Sunday to the Florida Panthers. An early 2-0 deficit forced the Blue Jackets to chase the game the rest of the night and the club was unable to find an equalizer. Columbus brings a three-game losing streak and the NHL's worst record into this game.
Columbus is still dealing with numerous injuries. Forward Nick Foligno is day-to-day with an unspecfied ailment. The injured reserve list is crowded: goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (groin), defensemen David Savard (lower body) and Cody Goloubef (jaw), and forward Markus Hannikainen (shoulder) remain unavailable to play.