Blue Jackets Bank on Home Ice Against Rolling Stars

Dallas arrives in Columbus as the team creating the better looks, while the Blue Jackets have spent recent weeks giving away far more than they get.

Over their last 10 games, the Stars have averaged 3.19 expected goals per game (how many goals their chances were worth) against 2.68 allowed, and they have won 7 of those 10. Columbus has gone the other way: 2.73 expected goals for and 3.4 against, with just 4 wins in that stretch. The Blue Jackets have also faced a heavy volume of shot attempts against them, a sign they have been chasing the play.

The counterweight is the building. Columbus is 5-3-0 at home and 1-4-0 on the road, and it comes in off a 7-2 win over Colorado in which Charlie Coyle had two goals and two assists. Dallas won the first meeting 3-1 on October 31.

Standings stakes are real for both. Dallas (9-5-1, 19 points) sits third in the Central and fifth in the West, riding a two-game win streak. Columbus (6-7-0, 12 points) is sixth in the Metropolitan and 14th in the East, with a minus 5 goal difference. Watch whether Miro Heiskanen, day to day with an upper-body injury, is in the Stars lineup.