Stars score four straight to erase early deficit, down Columbus, 5-3 Duchene scores first for Dallas in win

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In Dallas, the Stars overcame a 2-1 deficit in the first period by scoring four straight, including three in the third period to down the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-3 on Monday night.

Jake Oettinger made 22 saves in the win.

“We were flying,” Oettinger said. “I think it started with [Matt Duchene] and [Mason Marchment]’s line, I think they were the best line on the ice by far. Really happy to see those guys get rewarded. They’ve been our best line the last few nights. We need them. We have such a deep team, and they just showed that tonight.”

Dallas took a 1-0 lead in the first on a strike by Thomas Harley with 27 seconds gone in the game.

“Nice to get one in the start because our starts haven’t been great this year,” Dallas’ Roope Hintz said. “We’ve been talking about our starts, and we started really good today, and that kind of kept us in the game.”

Columbus replied with a pair of goals starting with Jakub Voronkov at 4:37 to tie it, 1-1.

“We’re definitely getting our chances, that’s for sure, the last few games,” Columbus’ Mathieu Olivier said. “At some point, we might go through a phase where they’re all going to go in. At some point, it might be evened out, but right now they’re just not going in as much as we’d like. It comes through phases throughout the year, but it’s up to us to find our way out of it.”

Damon Severson put the Blue Jackets up, 2-1, at 13:41 of the first.

Dallas tied it 2-2 in the middle frame on a marker from Hintz at 5:52.

“The best compliment I could give Roope is, I have more coaches from other teams that I sit and talk with or chat with just talk about how underrated he is,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said. “This guy’s one of the best in the world. He’s physical, he’s fast, he’s hard, he makes plays. He can play defense, he can play offense. He’s a prototypical No. 1 center, and there’s probably maybe 10 in the League, in the world, right now in that category. He brings it all.”

In the htird, Matt Duchene  scored in his first for the Stars at 2:49 to give them a 3-2 lead.

The first one’s always the hardest one to get in the season. Pretty sure I showed you guys that,” Duchene said. “It was probably the luckiest and least dangerous play of the game that ended up in the net. It’s kind of funny how that went tonight.”

Eight minutes later, Evgenii Dadonov  pushed the lead to 4-2.
“I don’t think we were resilient all night. I think it was on and off,” Columbus coach Vincent Pascal said. “It’s not about the final score. I think we have more than this, and I’m talking about the effort. A lot of guys worked hard, but we can’t afford to have a few guys not working hard enough. That’s not going to fly. We need 20 guys to play hard and take care of the details of the game.”

Wyatt Johnston hit an empty net at 16:21 for a 5-2 advantage.

Columbus’ Sean Kuraly scored at 17:10, for the 5-3 final.

“That’s a veteran team over there that knows how to win, how to close out games,” Columbus’ Adam Fantilli said. “I’m not used to losing, I don’t want to get used to losing. I think we’ve got to just keep pushing and playing the right way, and I think eventually they’re going to start to fall for us. We’re going to get our bounces, things are going to start going well if we keep working hard, but definitely not a feeling I want to get used to at all.”

Elvis Merzlikins made 28 saves in the loss.