Three consecutive road defeats take the Columbus Blue Jackets (8th in Metropolitan Division) back to own ice, where they will face off against the Dallas Stars (1st in Central), who are riding a three-game point streak away from home.
The Dallas Stars (18-8-6) were beaten for the first time in three-games, but still managed to grab a point (2-0-1) after going 2-1-1 on their current five-date road trip following a 5-4 overtime setback against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena on Saturday. Joe Pavelski (11 goals, 31 points this year), Jamie Benn (13 goals, 29 points), Tyler Seguin (6 goals, 23 points) and Jani Hakanpaa (4 goals, 8 points) all scored for Dallas, which tied the game twice after trailing by two snipes on two separate occasions, only for the hosts to bury the winner at 2:19 of the extra session. The Stars have now collected points in eight of their past 10 fixtures (6-2-2).
Goalie Scott Wedgewood stopped 33 shots on Saturday to take his current performance status to 6-4-3 for the season with a 3.03 GAA and a .910 save percentage. He has posted a 1- 0-2 career record versus Columbus with a 2.53 GAA and a .920 save percentage, while Jake Oettinger (12-4-3 on the year with a 2.42 GAA and a .920 save percentage) is 6-0-1 against the Blue Jackets previously with a 1.68 GAA and a .927 save percentage. The Stars are 4th in most goals scored per game this season (3.63), 6th in least goals conceded on average (2.75), 8th in power play (25.8%) and 3rd best in penalty kill (83.5%).