Werenski ties it late, Blue Jackets rally for shootout win against Stars

COLUMBUS -- Zach Werenski scored the tying goal with 3:14 remaining in the third period, and the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied for a 2-1 shootout victory against the Dallas Stars at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

“We stuck with it for 60 minutes,” Werenski said. “It's a really good hockey team over there. We just kept coming and playing our game, it’s 1-0 but I liked our bounce back.”

Werenski tied it 1-1 with his first goal of the season, scoring on a backhand over Casey DeSmith's left pad after skating in from the left face-off circle.

“It's been a while for me since I've scored, so happy that one went in,” Werenski said. “I've had chances. Feel like I've been playing a lot better lately. I feel like my game's coming around and happy I got that one there tied up for the guys.

“It's kind of eating at me a little bit that I wasn't able to produce and I wasn't burying my chances.”

Cam Talbot made 27 saves for the Blue Jackets (7-7-0), who have won two straight. Valeri Nichushkin and Kent Johnson scored in the shootout.

Mikko Rantanen scored, and DeSmith made 29 saves for the Stars (9-5-2), who are 2-2-1 in their past five games.

“I'm just trying to do my best and the team's been doing a good job defending for the most part,” DeSmith said. “And that's just the way that we find ways to win games. That's just the identity of this team and we've talked about that. There's a lot of things we've been doing well on the defensive side of the puck that helps me out.”

Talbot kept the game scoreless with key saves in the second period.

First, he made an acrobatic save on an Esa Lindell wrist shot at 9:16. Talbot was scrambling through the crease with his back to the play when he turned around, slid across and snared the shot at the right post.

“They don’t really teach that in goalie school,” Talbot said. “It was just a little pirouette in the crease and try to find the puck. They went seam once and then seam again and I was just kind of swimming and just turned my back, spun around because I knew it'd be a little bit quicker than catching my edge and rotating and pushing back. So, I was able to find the puck at the last second and just throw my glove out there.”

Talbot then stopped Jason Robertson on a breakaway with a left-pad save at 16:45.

Dallas appeared to open the scoring in the final seconds of the second, but video review confirmed the puck did not cross the goal line before time ran out. 

During a 3-1 win over the Blue Jackets in Dallas on Saturday, the Stars scored in the final second of the first period and into an empty net at 19:59 of the third.

“We played them twice here in the last week and they've played some good hockey,” Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said. “So, it was a good hockey game, tight-checking and it was back to our identity.”

The Stars finally broke through when Rantanen scored for the third straight game for a 1-0 lead at 6:27 of the third period.

Wyatt Johnston pounced on a Ivan Provorov turnover and forced a save by Talbot. The rebound went to the right of the net where Rantanen collected it and calmly waited for an opening at the near post.

“We were turning some pucks over, especially in the second period,” said Rantanen, who was playing his 100th game with Dallas. “We should have had a goal or two probably there but forecheck was good. Our 'D' was doing a good job joining the rush, getting some chances from there and extending the O-zone time, so that was good.”

Johnson was happy to see Werenski end his goalless streak.

“I'm not sure how much it was bothering him,” Johnson said. “He cares first about the team winning game so there's games we lost where he probably felt like he could have scored, I'm sure that that weighed on him a bit.”

NOTES: Werenski has seven points (one goal, six assists) in a five-game point streak. … Johnson had an assist to extend his point streak to six games (three goals, six assists). … Johnston has six points (one goal, five assists) in a four-game streak. ... Rantanen has five points (three goals, two assists) in a four-game streak. His 114 points (36 goals, 78 assists) are the third-most through a player’s first 100 games with the franchise, behind Dino Ciccarelli (127) and Neal Broten (120). ... Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen did not play after sustaining an upper-body injury in a 6-5 win at the Washington Capitals on Tuesday. Gulutzan said Heiskanen may be available Saturday against the San Jose Sharks. … Dallas was without forward Sam Steel, who was unavailable for personal reasons.