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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A lot has changed for the Dallas Stars and
the Columbus Blue Jackets since they last played at Nationwide
Arena.
The Stars stretched their unbeaten streak to six games (5-0-1),
since a 3-2 loss on Nov. 14, by beating the Blue Jackets 4-2
Saturday night.
|  | | This time, Deron Quint, left, and the Blue Jackets had to play catch-up against the Stars. |
"It was tough," Dallas center Mike Modano said, reflecting on
the last Columbus visit. "We were behind the 8-ball early with
Steve Heinze scoring two goals for them. We were playing catch-up
the whole night and we're a lot better team when we're playing with
the lead."
Not long after that loss, the Stars had a team meeting in
Buffalo. Now they feel they've turned their season around.
"Guys are confident playing with who they're playing with,"
said defenseman Darryl Sydor, who had two assists. "The guys are
playing with a lot of confidence, knowing where guys are going to
be."
Modano scored a goal and assisted on another as the Stars won
their fifth in a row. They've outscored opponents 17-6 in the
unbeaten streak.
"We've progressed the last couple of weeks," said Dallas
goalie Marty Turco, who stopped 19 of 21 shots while giving Eddie
Belfour a night off.
Columbus, meanwhile, has plummeted since tying the NHL record
for consecutive wins by an expansion team. The Blue Jackets
followed a four-game winning streak with a five-game losing skid,
including a 3-0 loss in Dallas to Belfour on Friday night.
The Blue Jackets have been outscored 21-5 over those five
losses.
"We started off like we really didn't believe in ourselves very
much," Columbus coach Dave King said. "We probably paid a lot of
respect to them and gave them lots of room to work."
Outscored 33-9 in the second period this season, the Blue
Jackets surrendered two goals -- and Dallas flirted with several
other prime opportunities -- to turn a 2-1 Stars lead into a 4-1
rout.
Just 90 seconds into the second, Jere Lehtinen scored on a
one-timer off a back-hand pass from Sydor to make it 3-1.
Brett Hull ripped a shot off the post midway through the period,
but within seconds the Stars scored anyway.
Grant Marshall's shot from the point was deflected by Tyler
Bouck, the puck popping over Columbus goalie Ron Tugnutt's head and
sliding into the net.
"It's no fun. We've played this team four times this month,"
King said. "They were in the Stanley Cup finals last year and won
it the year before, so they're a tough team to play against. We
need a change of menu here."
Columbus got as close as 4-2 early in the third when Robert Kron
scored his first goal, faking a shot on a breakaway from the left
wing and beating Turco on the glove side.
Within the next two minutes, Turco made the lead stand with two
big saves on rockets from the left wing by Frantisek Kucera, who
made it 1-1 in the first period. Both times, Turco got just enough
of the puck to send it inches wide of the corner post.
"Both teams traveled last night, but it seemed like our talent
was particularly evident out there," Turco said.
Dallas scored on both of its power-play chances in the opening
period. At 11:32, Hull's pass set up Lehtinen's shot that Tugnutt
deflected with his pad. But Modano was standing on the doorstep to
jam in his eighth goal.
"The power play pretty much got us the game tonight," Modano
said.
After Kucera tied it, the Stars didn't let up. They took the
lead for good at 18:14 of the first period with a man advantage
when Sergei Zubov's blast slipped under Tugnutt's right leg.
"The power play was good all weekend," Dallas coach Ken
Hitchcock said.
Columbus remained winless on the second night of back-to-back
games (0-6-0-1).
Game notes
Columbus D Jamie Pushor played in his 300th career game.
... The teams met for the fourth time in 25 days -- and don't meet
again this season. ... Dallas is unbeaten (10-0-2-0) when scoring
first. ... RW Alex Selivanov, a free-agent signing last week, made
his first appearance at Nationwide Arena in a Columbus uniform. ...
Heinze, the Blue Jackets' second-leading scorer, missed the game
after sustaining a concussion in Friday's game. ... Jamie
Langenbrunner and Joe Nieuwendyk both had four-game point streaks
end.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Dallas Clubhouse
Columbus Clubhouse
NHL Rules!
Chat wrap: Barry Melrose on NHL Rules!
RECAPS
Atlanta 2
Washington 1
Buffalo 5
Montreal 3
Detroit 4
NY Islanders 3
Ottawa 4
Toronto 2
Florida 2
Tampa Bay 1
Los Angeles 2
Pittsburgh 2
Dallas 4
Columbus 2
Edmonton 3
Anaheim 2
St. Louis 5
Phoenix 1
Colorado 3
Calgary 2
New Jersey 3
San Jose 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Sergei Zubov blasts the slap shot past Ron Tugnutt.
avi: 916 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Mike Modano scores the early goal to give Dallas the 1-0 lead.
avi: 759 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Robert Kron cuts through the Dallas defense for his first goal of the season.
avi: 871 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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