Game Preview: Blue Jackets Return Home From First Multi-Game Road Trip Of The Season, Face Dallas Stars For Second Time In Two Weeks

DALLAS STARS
7-3-1 (15 pts; .682%) ROSTER SCHEDULE
7:00 P.M. – THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9 NATIONWIDE ARENA COLUMBUS, OH
TELEVISION: Bally Sports Ohio ESPN+ (Out of Market)
ODDS & PROJECTIONS:
ODDS OF CBJ WIN PER MONEYPUCK: 37%
TIPICO SPORTSBOOK: CBJ +170

For the first time this season, the Columbus Blue Jackets will face an opponent for the second time this season when they play host to Jason Robertson and the Dallas Stars on Thursday night.

The Blue Jackets came up short last Monday in Texas, giving up three third-period goals en route to a 5-3 loss to the Stars. Through their first dozen games, it's the only time this season that Columbus has allowed more than four goals in regulation.

Here's what to know when the puck drops from Nationwide Arena:

TALKING POINTS: DAL

• The Stars come into Columbus for the first leg of a three-game road trip. With Winnipeg and Minnesota on the schedule Saturday and Sunday, this begins the always-tough stretch of three games in four nights. In three different cities (and none of them at home), it's especially tough. 
   
• Dallas also enters the game on their first losing 'streak' of the season, having lost consecutive games for the first time this season. Going a combined 0-for-6 on the power play in those two games puts the Stars under 10% on the power play, with their 9.7% conversion rate at 29th in the league.
   
• That's not the only place that Dallas can be found near the bottom at, though. They're also 27th in shots allowed (33.5), 21st in shots (29.9), and 23rd in goals per game (2.82). None of those are atrociously bad, but it is odd to see the team that ranks 7th in point percentage in the bottom third in all of those categories. The second-best penalty kill in the league (92.5%) helps offset a lot of the otherwise pedestrian numbers.

TALKING POINTS: CBJ

• Elvis Merzlikins was rocked for the first time this season in Monday's overtime loss to the Florida Panthers. After giving up three goals on 11 shots in just over six minutes, Merzlikins was replaced by Spencer Martin and the Blue Jackets erased an early 3-0 deficit behind his steady hand. 
   
• Surely this will be a jinx, but Columbus has killed 13 consecutive power plays and rank 7th in the league with an 86.8% kill rate. If they don't give up a man-advantage goal to the Stars in Thursday's contest, that'll be six games in a row without allowing a power play goal. That would be something they haven't done since March 2021.
   
• Along with the returning Yegor Chinakhov, forwards Cole Sillinger and Mathieu Olivier are the only non-defensemen who have played in multiple games this year without a goal to show for it. Both players have been a steady presence in the lineup, though, with Sillinger playing every game and Olivier appearing in seven of the twelve. The "last forward to score" game is never a fun one when you're one of the final contestants; will Thursday do anything to change that?

Updated: 7:05 a.m. 
Subject to Change