Stars Lose To Columbus

via The Sports Xchange
DALLAS — Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Dallas Stars 3-0 at American Airlines Center on Saturday.
It was team effort for the Blue Jackets and Bobrovsky didn’t have to make too many tough saves in his first shutout of the season.
It was Bobrovsky’s 100th victory since he was traded to Columbus before the 2012-13 season and his first shutout since Nov. 20, 2015.
“Oh yeah? I didn’t know that,” Bobrovsky said. “That feels great, definitely. I hope it’s going to be a few more hundreds.”
For the Blue Jackets players, it felt good to help Bobrovsky get the shutout.
“It feels good. He made some big saves. They had a lot of chances close around the net,” defenseman Seth Jones said. “He got low, he found it very well and he got us out of danger a few times. You know you need your goalie to make big saves in wins and that’s exactly what he did tonight.”
The victory gave Columbus back-to-back wins after a 3-2 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday.
Josh Anderson, Scott Hartnell and Matt Calvert scored for the Blue Jackets (2-2-0), who were playing only their fourth game of the season.
Anderson gave Columbus a 1-0 lead after a fortunate bounce in the second period.
A Dallas rush was disrupted when a pass ricocheted off the referee near the blue line and Columbus took possession. The Blue Jackets then scored on the odd man rush when Boone Jenner set up Anderson in front of the net for an easy goal.
Nineteen seconds after the goal, Stars captain Jamie Benn fought Blue Jackets alternate captain Brandon Dubinsky in a lengthy bout. The fight didn’t spark any energy for Dallas, and Columbus continued to lock down in the defensive zone for the rest of the game.
Dallas coach Lindy Ruff wasn’t happy with the performance and said this his team was “as flat as could be,” after the Stars lost back-to-back games at home.
“That’s two games in a row where we were out skated and we don’t get out skated very often. When your legs aren’t moving, the puck movement isn’t good,” Ruff said. “So it’s my job to get them going. There was no emotion inside that game.”
Hartnell gave Columbus a 2-0 lead at 9:02 of the third period when he waited out Kari Lehtonen and fired a shot low on the stick side.
Calvert scored an empty-net goal to make it 3-0.
Columbus had one of the best opportunities in the first period when Jenner almost scored 2:17 into the game.
Jenner’s initial shot was stopped by Lehtonen and Columbus crashed the crease. After a rebound shot by Lukas Sedlak, Jenner had a gaping net but whiffed on the shot and it was covered by Lehtonen.
Lehtonen made 23 saves for Dallas and had to make a handful of difficult stops.
In the first period, he was in scramble mode and snuffed out a chance by Jenner. In the second period, Lehtonen stopped William Karlsson on a shorthanded breakaway when it was still a scoreless game.
Cam Atkinson had a penalty shot with 10:21 remaining after Stars defenseman John Klingberg was called for throwing his stick on a breakaway. Atkinson lost the puck on the attempt and didn’t get off a shot.

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