SETTING THE STAGE: For the second time in 10 days, the Blue Jackets and Stars will face off and this time, it concludes their two-game season series.
Columbus won the first leg by a 3-0 final back on Oct. 22. Coming off their first win of the season the night before, the Blue Jackets got a solid performance from both their penalty killers and goaltender along with timely scoring to earn two points. Josh Anderson opened the scoring in the second period, Scott Hartnell added an insurance goal midway through the third, and Matt Calvert capped it off with an empty-netter.
As John Tortorella has often said, the only way to feel better about a win is to follow it up with another one - he calls it "adding layers" of confidence. The Blue Jackets did that by answering Friday's win over Chicago with a shutout in Dallas, and they were able to fly home last weekend with a 2-1-1 record on a tough four-game trip.
The Stars were shut out in their last game, a 4-0 loss to Minnesota on Saturday night. Lindy Ruff has shuffled his lines and pairs to try and ignite Dallas' offense, but they have struggled to score in the early going.
Dallas announced on Monday afternoon that winger Ales Hemsky would miss five months due to hip surgery. Hemsky suffered the injury while playing for the Czech Republic in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
NOTEWORTHY NEWS: Ryan Murray (upper body) practiced with the Blue Jackets on Monday and is expected to return to the lineup on Tuesday. Tortorella said Murray had a good week of practice while the team was away and made progress each time he skated. Joonas Korpisalo was activated off injured reserve on Monday and assigned to Cleveland. He missed the previous month with a groin injury.
PROJECTED CBJ LINEUP:
Saad - Wennberg - Foligno
Calvert - Dubinsky - Anderson
Jenner - Karlsson - Atkinson
Hartnell - Sedlak - Gagner
Werenski - Jones
Nutivaara - Savard
Murray - Johnson
Bobrovsky
