Bjorkstrand's two goals lift Jackets past Stars

Oliver Bjorkstrand scored a pair of third-period goals in a less than a two-minute span, and the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets snapped a three-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night.



After giving up 15 goals over the three-game skid, Columbus (23-15-3) put together a dominant defensive performance against the Stars (22-16-3). Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 21 saves.



After neither team could capitalize on several scoring opportunities, Dallas' Devin Shore finally broke through 44 seconds into the third period off a nifty passing sequence. It was Shore's fifth goal of the season.



Bjorkstrand answered for Columbus with a pair of goals, one at 4:54 and the other at 6:12. Lukas Sedlak registered assists on both tallies. Bjorkstrand has eight goals on the season.



The Blue Jackets contained Dallas the rest of the way.



Dallas goaltender Ben Bishop made his ninth straight start and finished with 24 saves. He has allowed 10 goals and has two shutouts in his past six starts.



Dallas was coming off a dominant 6-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks on New Year's Eve. Forward Alexander Radulov sustained an upper-body injury in that game but managed to play 18:53 against Columbus.



The Blue Jackets had the better play in a scoreless opening period and outshot Dallas 8-7. However, Columbus could not take advantage of a penalty on Jamie Benn for hooking Sedlak with 3:56 remaining.



The Stars played better in the second period, but Bobrovsky came up with a couple of big saves on shots by Tyler Pitlick and Antoine Roussel. Neither defense would budge, and Bishop made a nice stop on a wrist shot by Seth Jones to keep the game scoreless heading into the final period.



The Blue Jackets play three of their next four games on the road, where they are 9-8-3 on the season. Columbus visits the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, the same night Dallas plays host to the New Jersey Devils.



--Field Level Media