Stars double-up Blue Jackets

In Columbus, Joe Pavelski scored the first two goals for the Dallas Stars, once in the first and then in the second period, to lead the Stars to a 6-3 thumping of the Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.

Dallas scored four times in the middle frame to take a 5-1 lead into the third period.

Jake Oettinger made 23 saves in the win for Dallas.

Pavelski had two assists for four points, and Jamie Benn had a goal and three points.  John Klingberg added helpers on the night for the Stars.

“He’s been playing with a ton of confidence,” Pavelski said of Klingberg. “He really wants the puck right now and he’s finding lanes and that’s all I can ask for. He delivered a couple of good pucks and I got the stick on them and found goals. It’s always nice to see a tip go in.”

Seth Jones scored for the Jackets when he cut the Dallas lead to 2-1 in the second period.

“They forechecked us pretty hard tonight,” Jones said. “They were in our face and we couldn’t seem to break the puck out clean. We weren’t very crisp.”

Denis Gurianov and Radek Faksa also scored for the Stars.

“We struggled with the pace early on,” Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella said. “They were a little quicker than we were, then I thought we got our legs underneath us.

“We had some real fluky goals go in, it’s not on [Korpisalo], just some weird plays. We played better in the third period.”

Dean Kukan and Mikhail Grigorenko scored in the third period for Columbus to get within 5-3.

Alexander Radulov added a late empty-net goal to end the night.

Joonas Korpisalo got the start for Columbus and yielded five goals through less than two periods of play before getting the hook.Elvis Merzlikins made nine saves in a mop up role.

Patrik Laine made his debut with the Blue Jackets in the game.

“It was tough at the beginning,” Laine said. “The legs weren’t quite there. My head definitely was not there. My hands were not there.

“And, obviously, a new system and new linemates. But I’m not here to make excuses. I think I wasn’t at the level I need to be for this team to be able to win.”