Dallas Stars @ Columbus Blue Jackets Preview

The Dallas Stars are still in search for their first win of the season and they will hope to get one tonight as the visit the Columbus Blue Jackets.  This is the first of two meetings against the Jackets and we won’t see them again until they come to the American Airlines Center in early January.  You can catch this game on Fox Sports Southwest or listen to it on The Ticket 1310 AM/96.7 FM tonight at 6:00pm CT.

Records and Scores:

The Dallas Stars head into this game with a record of 0-1-1, coming off a 4-1 loss to the Nashville Predators on Saturday.  The Stars once again had a lead in this game but were unable to hold on as the offense completely dried up after Antoine Roussel scored in the first period.  They were outshot by the Predators 26-13 in the final two periods and gave up four unanswered goals.  This is the Stars second of three straight road games.  They will look to play a complete road game against a team that has started very hot.

The Columbus Blue Jackets enter this game with a perfect record (2-0-0) after they stomped the New York Rangers 5-2 on Saturday in Columbus.  They are getting production from every line on the team and it doesn’t hurt that Sergei Bobrovsky has been superb.  This will be the Blue Jacket’s second game of a three game homestand.

Storylines:

When will we see that elite goal scoring from Dallas?

The Dallas Stars were built up all offseason long as a team that has the makings of an offensive juggarnaut.  It is obviously way to early to write anyone off or make assumptions off of a very small sample size, but one has to wonder; where is the elite goal scoring we thought we were going to see?  So far this season, the Stars have scored a total of three goals in two games.  Antoine Roussel scored the only goal against Nashville while Trevor Daley and Cody Eakin each tallied against the Blackhawks in the opener.  Jason Spezza and Ales Hemsky each have an assist while Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin have been held off the scoresheet entirely.  Benn and Seguin saw a ton of Shea Weber on Saturday and you can expect the same kind of treatment for them all season long, they are just going to have to find a way to work through it and score.  The chances are there and it is only a matter of time before they breakout once again.

Blue Jackets getting a hot start out of their Vezina-winning goalie

There have been two main ingredients for the Blue Jackets recipe of success the past two seasons.  One is getting scoring from up and down the lineup.  The other is Sergei Bobrovsky.  Bobrovsky has been absolutely tremendous so far this season, winning both of his starts while posting a 2.00 GAA and a .938 save percentage.  Although the Blue Jackets have a lot more talent up front than in previous seasons, Bobrovsky will once again be the reason this team succeeds or crumbles.

Injury Notes:

Stars big winger Val Nishuskin left practice early on Monday and is listed as questionable for this game.  Sergei Gonchar is still on injured reserve and Rich Peverley remains on the injured non-roster list.

For the Jackets, Brian Gibbons is listed as day-to-day with a lower body injury.  Boone Jenner is out with a broken hand while Brandon Dubinsky will also be sitting this one out with an ab injury.  Nathan Horton (back), Sonny Milano (upper body) and Ryan Murray (lower body) are all on the injured non-roster list for the Blue Jackets.

Projected Lines:

Lindy Ruff shuffled the lines a bit in practice on Monday, and they looked like this:

Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Cody Eakin

Patrick Eaves – Jason Spezza – Ales Hemsky

Antoine Roussel – Vern Fiddler – Ryan Garbutt

Val Nichuskin/Erik Cole – Shawn Horcoff – Colton Sceviour

Alex Goligoski – Trevor Daley

Jordie Benn – Brenden Dillon

Patrik Nemeth – Jamie Oleksiak/Kevin Connauton

Kari Lehtonen

Anders Lindback

For the Blue Jackets, Foligno missed practice on Monday but is expected to play tonight.  Their lines look like this:

Scott Hartnell – Artem Anisimov – Alexander Wennberg

Nick Foligno – Ryan Johansen – Cam Atkinson

Matt Calvert – Mark Letestu – Marko Dano

Jack Skille – Michael Chaput – Jared Boll

Jack Johnson – David Savard

Tim Erixon – James Wisnieswki

Fedor Tyutin – Dalton Prout

Final Score Prediction:

Lindy Ruff let the Dallas Stars hear it after that poor showing in Nashville.  I think the Stars get their first win behind goals from Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn with a 4-2 victory over the Blue Jackets.