ESPN

Coming off some lackluster efforts, the Dallas Stars showed some jump early Thursday night in Columbus and it was key in a 4-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

The Stars scored two goals in the first 4:21 of the game and added a third by the 21 minute mark, building a 3-0 lead over the Blue Jackets.

“It was a big start tonight. Those two goals were huge,” said Stars center Jamie Benn, who scored the Stars’ first goal and then sealed the victory with a late empty net goal. “Getting some momentum on the road for our team is big. We definitely want that in the first period.”

The win was the fourth in the last six games for the Stars and temporarily moved them into eighth place in the West. But they dropped to ninth when Phoenix beat Calgary in overtime a short time later to take over the eighth spot.

Despite the strong start, the Stars still had some issues in the game. Columbus scored two power play goals in the second period to make a game of it right to the end.

“Our second period wasn’t very good. We know that,” said Benn. “It was because of bad penalties and turnovers that they got their chances. We need to clean that up.”

Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen helped clean up a lot of the messes, stopping 26 of 28 shots to earn his 20^th win of the season.

“I thought he was real good,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said of Lehtonen. “I thought he cleaned a lot of our stuff up, and most of our stuff was self-inflicted again a little bit. It’s less than before but still some of the same symptoms. We’re going to move forward in that direction for sure. We’re going to cut those things out.”

But early in the game the Stars were buzzing. They were all over the Blue Jackets from the opening faceoff and it paid dividends on the scoreboard.

Benn got to a rebound of a Stephane Robidas shot and scored from the slot to give the Stars a 1-0 lead 1:35 into the game.

Alex Goligoski crashed the net and scored off the rebound after a Tomas Vincour bounced off face of Blue Jackets defenseman Marc Methot at the 4:21 mark to make it a 2-0 game.

“When you’re in the situation we’ve been in, where you haven’t scored too many lately, to score two right away is a good confidence boost for the group,” said Stars coach Glen Gulutzan.

The Stars padded the lead to 3-0 at the 1:05 mark of the third when Robidas scored just as a Dallas power play was expiring.

After that, though, things got a little dicey for the Stars. They gave the Blue Jackets three consecutive power plays later in the second and Vinny Prospal and Rick Nash scored power play goals to make it a one-goal game.

“There was no reason for us to let them back in the game,” said Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas. “We should have just kept the game simple. That was our success in the first, we kept our game simple. We put the puck deep and put pressure on them. (In the second period), we turned the puck over and took some penalties because guys were tired. It’s tough when you play in your own zone. It’s just not the right way to play.”

The Stars shut the door for most of the third period, but the Blue Jackets got some quality chances after pulling goalie Curtis Sanford for the extra attacker. Benn sealed the win, scoring into an empty net from his own blue line with less than a second remaining.

“We were more consistent,” Gulutzan said of his team’s performance. “We turned the puck over a little too much. There were a couple things we learned about ourselves in the second period and the way we need to play, but our third period we came out pretty strong and held the lead pretty good.”

Notes: Sheldon Souray questionable for Friday

*Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said Sheldon Souray took a puck off the foot in Thursday’s game and was questionable for Friday.

*Gulutzan said Richard Bachman would start Friday’s game in Buffalo.

*With Alex Goligoski and Stephane Robidas scoring goals Thursday, the Stars have six goals from defensemen over their last seven games.

*Mark Fistric, Jake Dowell and Adam Pardy were healthy scratches for the Stars.

*Blue Jackets defenseman Marc Methot left the game early in the first period after getting hit in the face with a shot off the stick of Stars forward Tomas Vincour. He suffered a broken jaw. The Blue Jackets also lost forward Jared Boll to a broken foot during the game.

The Dallas Stars opened their two-game road trip with a win, topping the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 at Nationwide Arena Thursday night. Jamie Benn scored two goals and Alex Goligoski and Stephane Robidas also scored for the Stars, who built a 3-0 lead in the first 21:09 of the game. Kari Lehtonen stopped 26 shots for the Stars, who have won four of six games.

First period

The Stars came out strong, scoring two goals in the first 4:21 of the game to take an early lead.

Jamie Benn scored 1:35 into the game, picking up a rebound in the slot and whipping it past Columbus goalie Curtis Sanford to give the Stars a 1-0 lead.

At the 4:21 mark, Tomas Vincour put a shot on net that hit Columbus defenseman Marc Methot in the face and Alex Goligoski put the rebound in from close range to make it a 2-0 game.

Kari Lehtonen was sharp in goal for the Stars in the first. He made a couple of good stops, including one on Jeff Carter with just a little more than minutes remaining in the period.

The Stars were 0-1 on the power play and were on their second when the period ended. Columbus had no power plays in the period.

The Stars outshot the Blue Jackets 15-10 through the first 20 minutes.

Second period

The Stars started the second period on a power play and just as it expired they scored to take a 3-0 lead in the game. With Loui Eriksson setting a screen, Stephane Robidas scored on a shot from just inside the blue line at the 1:09 mark.

But the Stars took three consecutive penalties later in the period and the Blue Jackets scored on two of their power plays to climb back into the game.

Vinny Prospal redirected a Fedor Tyutin shot into the net on the first power play to make it a 3-1 game at the 8:32 mark.

Rick Nash finished off a cross-ice pass from Derick Brassard on the Blue Jackets’ third power play to make it 3-2 at 12:12 of the second period.

Columbus outshot the Stars 11-10 in the second. The Stars have a 25-21 advantage through the first two periods.

Third period

The Stars did a good job of bottling up the Blue Jackets in the third period. Columbus pulled goalie Curtis Sanford with a little more than to go and had had a couple of good chances with the extra attacker, but couldn’t get the equalizer.

Jamie Benn scored into the open net from his own blue line with 0.9 seconds remaining to make it a 4-2 final.

Stars lineup

Ott-Benn-Vincour
Eriksson-Ribeiro-Ryder
Nystrom-Fiddler-Dvorak
Petersen-Wandell-Burish

Grossman-Daley
Souray-Robidas
Goligoski-Larsen

Lehtonen (starter)
Bachman

Injured: Morrow (neck/shoulder)
Scratched: Dowell, Fistric, Pardy

A few tidbits for your Thursday morning.

*With last night's win over the Ducks, the Stars improved to 4-4-2 in the first games of back-to-back sets this season. As has been mentioned often, it's the second game that's been the big issue. They are 0-7-1 in those games so far this season. Here's a look at how the Stars have fared in back-to-backs in 2011-12.



*A power play note from last night's game. Defenseman Sheldon Souray, who has been averaging 2:24 of power play time per game this season, didn't see any PP time last night. The Stars went with blue line combinations of Alex Goligoski-Stephane Robidas and Trevor Daley-Philip Larsen last night. They give up the big cannon, but that's a pretty mobile group on the blue line.

*The Los Angeles Kings beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-2 last night on a power play goal by Drew Doughty with 0.4 seconds remaining in regulation. Video replays below show that the game clock stopped briefly at 1.8 seconds, restarted and then Doughty scores.

Here's an excerpt from the NHL.com recap:

Columbus' Samuel Pahlsson took a hooking penalty with 1:06 left in regulation, and the Kings buzzed away in the Jackets' zone. Curtis Sanford made a pair of stops in the final eight seconds on Anze Kopitar, and with time running out the puck came to Doughty, whose snap shot through traffic barely beat the final horn. Referee Steven Walkom originally waved off the goal, but video replay showed the puck crossed the goal line with less than a second to play -- though television replays indicated that the game clock stopped briefly with 1.8 seconds remaining before starting again.

Here's the video. Watch the clock when it hits 1.8 seconds.