Birthday Buzzkill: Blue Jackets Down Stars on Crawford's 50th

Coming off a grueling comeback victory over the Chicago Blackhawks Friday night, the Dallas Stars faced off against the red-hot Columbus Blue Jackets in a Sunday matinee, which also was Stars' head coach Marc Crawford's 50th birthday.

Unfortunately for Crawford, Columbus captain Rick Nash would not allow a Stars' victory to complete his birthday as the Blue Jackets defeated the Stars, 2-1.

Dallas started off right when Brad Richards' bad-angle shot beat Blue Jackets goaltender Steve Mason to give Dallas an early 1-0 lead on the power play.

Less than a minute later, Columbus responded with Matt Calvert putting a rebound opportunity past Dallas' Kari Lehtonen, to knot the game at 1-1.

The Stars were able to avoid sustaining any other despite being out shot 18-6 and winning only six of 23 face-offs.

Dallas also lost defenseman Nicklas Grossman to a lower-body injury in the first, leaving the Stars with five defensemen the rest of the game as Grossman did not return.

At the 6:33 mark of the second period, Nash blew by Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas and beat Lehotnen with a pretty backhand shot to make the game 2-1.

Mason was able to shoulder the load the rest of the way, including a monster stop on Dallas' Steve in the third, and the Blue Jackets took the contest by a final score of 2-1.

The struggling Dallas power play was only able to convert on one of six power play opportunities.

Columbus is now 4-1-0 in their last five games and now sit four points out of the eighth seed in the Western Conference while Dallas is 1-3-1 in their last five but maintains first place in the Pacific Division by two points over the San Jose Sharks.

The Stars now embark on a western Canada road trip starting with the last place Edmonton Oilers Tuesday at 8 PM. CST.

Game Notes

Blue Jackets winger Derek Dorsett did not make the trip to Dallas as he is recovering from a head injury sustained Friday. Newly acquired Dallas winger Jason Williams (signed Saturday) made his debut wearing number 27. Sunday also marked the 46th birthday of Dallas color commentator Daryl Reaugh.