Thursday, January 22, 2026 – 7:00 PM ET
Nationwide Arena – Columbus, Ohio
TV: FDSNOH; Radio: 97.1 FM
Dallas Stars (28-13-9, 65 points, 2nd Central, 2nd West)
at
Columbus Blue Jackets (22-20-7, 51 points, 7th Metro, 15th East)
Notes
After a lackluster effort against Ottawa on Tuesday, the Jackets look to rebound tonight against a Dallas Stars team that they beat 5-1 in Dallas back in October. Remember that? Me neither.
Star (no pun intended) forward Mikko Rantanen missed the last game with illness, so we’ll see whether he can play or not.
One thing that stood out while looking at the numbers…Dallas is a shockingly bad puck possession team. This could be an opportunity for the Jackets to get out early and control the pace of play.
Mason Marchment and Isac Lundestrom both return from injury, with Brendan Gaunce and Zach Aston-Reese exiting to make room. Marchment should give a much-needed shot to the top line.
Forward Charlie Coyle will play in his 1000th game tonight. Congrats to him on the accomplishment! It takes a lot to be good enough and healthy enough to last in the league that long.
Jet Greaves gets the start in goal, with Elvis Merzlikins apparently recovered enough from illness to be able to back him up.
Stats
| Dallas | Columbus | |
| 3.32 (7) | GPG | 2.94 (21) |
| 2.76 (5) | GAPG | 3.33 (26) |
| 29.2 (2) | PP% | 19.5 (19) |
| 79.6 (15) | PK% | 75.4 (28) |
| 45.4 (31) | 5v5 Shot Attempt % | 50.5 (15) |
| 45.9 (30) | 5v5 Unblocked Shot Attempt % | 49.8 (18) |
| 11.0 (4) | 5v5 Shooting % | 9.0 (18) |
| 91.8 (6) | 5v5 Save % | 91.0 (11) |
| Jason Robertson (29) | G Leader | Z. Werenski, K. Marchenko (18) |
| Mikko Rantanen (44) | A Leader | Zach Werenski (34) |
| Mikko Rantanen (63) | P Leader | Zach Werenski (52) |
| Mikko Rantanen (79) | PIM Leader | Mathieu Olivier (62) |
| 15-6-6 | Home/Road | 11-8-4 |
| 3-5-2 | Last 10 | 5-4-1 |
Projected Lineups
Columbus Blue Jackets
| Mason Marchment | Adam Fantilli | Kirill Marchenko |
| Boone Jenner | Sean Monahan | Kent Johnson |
| Cole Sillinger | Charlie Coyle | Mathieu Olivier |
| Dmitri Voronkov | Isac Lundestrom | Danton Heinen |
| Zach Werenski | Damon Severson |
| Ivan Provorov | Erik Gudbranson |
| Egor Zamula | Jake Christiansen |
| Jet Greaves |
| Elvis Merzlikins |
Dallas Stars
| Jason Robertson | Roope Hintz | Mavrik Bourque |
| Sam Steel | Matt Duchene | Wyatt Johnston |
| Oskar Back | Justin Hryckowian | Jamie Benn |
| Colin Blackwell | Radek Faksa | Nathan Bastian |
| Esa Lindell | Miro Heiskanen |
| Thomas Harley | Nils Lundkvist |
| Ilya Lyubushkin | Alex Petrovic |
| Jake Oettinger |
| Casey Desmith |