A big win in Big D.
Adam Fantilli, Boone Jenner, and Kent Johnson each had two points with a goal and an assist to lift the Columbus Blue Jackets over the Dallas Stars 5-1 on Tuesday night at American Airlines Center. The Blue Jackets have won two straight games for the first time this season.
Denton Mateychuk, Dmitri Voronkov, and Kent Johnson scored for Columbus. Elvis Merzlikins made 22 saves.
Tyler Seguin scored for Dallas, who have lost three straight. Jake Oettinger made 24 saves.
Here are three takeaways from a huge road win in Dallas.
Thing One: Reinforcement Of Playing Hard
Lose, win, lose, lose, win, win.
That's been the pattern so far for the Blue Jackets to start the season, but now things are starting to stabilize a bit after consecutive wins over the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Stars, another tough opponent, this time on the road.
What does head coach Dean Evason take away from a big win in Dallas?
"Just the reinforcement that we backed up the other night when we played hard," Evason said after Tuesday's win. "When we competed and played the right way, and again, to get rewarded is great for the group."
"When we competed and played the right way, and again, to get rewarded is great for the group." – Dean Evason
It didn't take long for the Blue Jackets to find the scoreboard and then keep adding goals.
Fantilli, who celebrated his 21st birthday on the 12th, scored his second goal of the season to give Columbus a 1-0 lead at 4:33 of the first period. The assists went to Jenner and Johnson.
#BlueJackets 1 @ #Stars 0 [P1-15:27]:
— NHL Goal Videos (@NHLGoalsVideo) October 22, 2025
Goal: Adam Fantilli (2)
29' Lead-Taking Snapshot
Assists: B.Jenner (4), K.Johnson (1)#CBJ #TexasHockey #NHL pic.twitter.com/dcMO09xeaH
#CBJ win their 2nd-straight contest, 5-1, at Dallas.
— CBJ Public Relations (@BlueJacketsPR) October 22, 2025
The Blue Jackets set a new club record for largest margin of win against the Stars in the all-time series (+4), surpassing 7 different 3-goal victories (MR: 4-1 W on Feb. 18, 2023 at Dallas).
Thing Two: Special Teams Comes Up Big
If there's been an Achilles heel to the start of the season, it's been the Blue Jackets' special teams.
On Tuesday night, they were perfect where it mattered.
Columbus started the power play conversion when Jenner scored to give the Jackets the 2-0 lead at 18:42 of the first period. The goal was Jenner's second of the season, with the assists going to Charlie Coyle and Damon Severson.
Cap makes it count!
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 22, 2025
CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/pd4nSyIi3Y
Dmitri Voronkov added his third of the year at 14:26 of the third period to give Columbus a 4-1 lead at that point, the second power play goal of the game, to put this one away. Sean Monahan and Kirill Marchenko added the assists.
VORO GETS THE GINO!
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 22, 2025
CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/6xAwRhvh1H
Mateychuk's first tally of the season made it 3-1 at 7:21 of the third period (Assists: Yegor Chinakhov, Zach Aston-Reese), and Johnson's empty-net goal at 17:00 (Assists: Fantilli) gave Columbus a 5-1 lead.
Columbus was 2-for-2 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. It's the first game this season in which the Blue Jackets have had consecutive power-play goals.
Thing Three: Goaltending Once Again Big In Big D
One part of the reason for the perfect penalty kill is due in large part to the last line of defense coming up in key spots, time and again, to preserve the Blue Jackets' lead.
Merzlikins did his part to continue an early-season goaltending trend that has been an important step for the Blue Jackets in playing well and getting wins, as he made 22 saves en route to picking up First Star of the Night honors.
"After Colorado, we saw our mistakes," Merzlikins said. "The next day we worked on it, and the next game I think we did better job as well.
"Tonight again, we were skating, we were fast, we were blocking the shots."
According to MoneyPuck, Merzlikins had 1.93 goals saved above expected.
To start the season, Merzlikins is 2-1-0 with a 2.69 goals against average and a .927 save percentage.
The Blue Jackets have taken three of the first six games of their schedule, with five of those games against teams that were in last year's playoffs. They also found a way to get a rare win against Oettinger, who is now 9-2-1 (2.24, .911) against the Blue Jackets lifetime.
Columbus also kept alive a trend in which the winning team in the series has scored four-plus goals in six straight meetings.
Up Next:
Columbus returns home for a quick stop at Nationwide Arena to face the Washington Capitals on Friday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m.
