Stars top Blue Jackets with two third-period goals

DALLAS -- Evgenii Dadonov scored twice in the third period to rally the Dallas Stars past the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3 at American Airlines Center on Sunday.

His first goal came at 11:22 on a deflection in the slot to give the Stars a 4-3 lead. Video review confirmed his stick was at or below the crossbar.

Dadonov scored again at 15:47 on a wraparound that deflected in off the stick of Columbus defenseman Damon Severson for the 5-3 final.

Wyatt Johnston had a goal and an assist, and Thomas Harley had two assists for Dallas (34-17-1), which has won five straight. Casey DeSmith made 27 saves.

“First off, I thought [Columbus] played a really solid game. You can tell why they have the record they have,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said. “They make you earn your offense. They’re direct, they’re fast, they have some good young players there. I thought we grinded and battled and, a lot like the streak we’ve been on, we didn’t beat ourselves. We found a way to weather the storm when we needed to and found a big goal when we needed to.”

Cole Sillinger, Adam Fantilli, and Ivan Provorov scored for Columbus (26-20-7), which had won its previous three games. Elvis Merzlikins made 34 saves.

Sillinger gave Columbus a 1-0 lead at 6:43 when he banked a shot from the bottom of the right face-off circle in off the skate of DeSmith.

Mason Marchment tied it 1-1 at 13:36 when he deflected a point shot from Lian Bichsel. The forward had missed the previous 17 games after having surgery following an injury sustained on Dec. 27 when a puck hit him in the face.

“The legs felt pretty good. I mean sometimes it can take a little bit to get into the timing of things but for the most part I felt pretty good and like I said it’s nice to be back out there playing,” Marchment said. “[I saw] how hard we work and how much we want to win. I think there were games while I was out watching that easily could’ve [gone] the other way and the guys really bared down and found a way. I think good teams find a way to win when you don’t have your best and I thought we did that quite a bit.”

Fantilli gave Columbus a 2-1 lead at 4:58 of the second period when his shot deflected off of Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell’s skate.

Logan Stankoven tied it at 6:03 when he finished off a cross-ice pass from Mikael Granlund, who was acquired in a trade along with defenseman Cody Ceci on Saturday from the San Jose Sharks for a first-round pick and a conditional third-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft.

Granlund will represent Finland in the 4 Nations Face-Off from Feb. 12-20 along with new teammates Roope Hintz and Lindell.

“it was nice to get a win in our first game here. This is a really good hockey team. It's fun to be a part of, it's fun to win games,” Ceci said. “It was kind of nice to come over with [Granlund]. We flew together and we had each other today to get to the rink and what not, so that was nice. We both played with [Matt] Duchene earlier on in our careers, so he was good, and [Matt] Dumba picked us up for lunch. So, everyone kind of reached out and helped us out today, and it was great.”

Provorov gave Columbus a 3-2 lead at 12:02 on a shot from the high slot.

“I think we have battled all year and today was another example of us sticking together no matter what and battling through adversity,” Provorov said. “It was an unfortunate call on the fourth goal, but as a team, we keep proving to ourselves that we are a great team and we are going to move forward.”

Johnston tied it 3-3 at 15:49 on a tip-in from the slot on the power play.

“You can tell right away that this team has been doing good. Everybody knows exactly what to do out there, so it is kind of nice to jump in on that one,” Granlund said. “I am sure my game will get better as the time goes on and I get more comfortable and learn other guys’ tendencies and all that. It’s good to get the win in the first game and just move on from here.”

Columbus defenseman Dante Fabbro left after he sustained an upper-body injury late in the first period, and forward Kirill Marchenko left after he was hit by a puck into the bench near the end of the second period.

“We lost our top pairing [defenseman] and our leading scorer, our top right winger,” Fantilli said. “That’ll be rough for any team, but … I think we responded well, and did what we could. In the end it wasn’t enough, but we responded well. I’m really hoping they are all good for next game, but we’ll see what the word is.”

NOTES: Dallas forward Mavrik Bourque took a point shot from Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski off his own stick and to the face and was helped off the ice at 12:37 in the third period. … Jason Robertson assisted on Johnston’s goal to extend his point streak to five games (eight points; four goals, four assists). … Kent Johnson assisted on Sillinger’s goal to push his point streak to seven games (eight points; three goals, five assists). ... Ceci had one shot on goal in 22:16 of ice time.