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Stars keep Blue Jackets winless

Oct 16, 2011 - 3:42 AM Dallas, TX (Sports Network) - Veteran defenseman Sheldon Souray scored the game-winning goal 1:36 into the final period, leading the Dallas Stars to a 4-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets from American Airlines Center.

Brenden Morrow had a goal and an assist, while Loui Eriksson and Michael Ryder netted the other goals for Dallas, which was coming off a 3-2 win over St. Louis on Thursday.

Mike Ribeiro chipped in with three assists, while Kari Lehtonen stopped 13 of 15 shots.

Vinny Prospal and Alexandre Giroux tallied for Columbus, which remained winless on the young season at 0-4-1. Steve Mason turned away 29 of the 33 shots he faced.

With the game tied at two, Souray gave the Stars the lead for good when he accepted a pass at his left point position from Ribeiro and blasted a slap shot past Mason for the 3-2 lead.

Ryder added a power-play goal for the Stars at 13:52 of the third as a result of some great passing. Ribeiro sent a pass from the right point down to Morrow, who was positioned at the goal line to the left of the net. After taking a minute to survey the situation, he found Ryder all alone on the other side of the net just in front of the left circle and the former Burin one- timed it past Mason for the final tally.

Prospal opened the scoring at 6:46 of the first period when he deflected a point shot from Fedor Tyutin in behind Lehtonen for the Blue Jackets first power-play goal of the season and an early 1-0 lead.

The Stars came right back to tie it up when Ribeiro picked up the puck on the goal line on the left wing, fed Morrow standing alone in front and the Stars' captain slammed the puck into the open net at the 11:25 mark of the first stanza, tying the game at one.

Columbus grabbed its second goal of the contest at the 1:13 mark of the second period when R.J. Umberger brought the puck up the right wing and sent a great pass to Giroux, who skated in between two defenders and beat Lehtonen high to the stick side for a 2-1 Jackets lead.

"I had a pretty good chance and was able to put one in," Giroux said. "It's not as sweet when you lose, so we'll get back at it tomorrow and see what happens Tuesday."

But the Stars responded at the 9:21 mark of the second with some good in-zone offense as Steve Ott picked up the puck on the goal line to the right of the net and feathered a pass to Eriksson in front, who buried it in behind Mason to tie it at two.

Game Notes

Columbus is now 13-23-5 all-time against Dallas, including a 6-13-2 mark at American Airlines Center...Jamie Benn was given the secondary assist on Eriksson's goal, it was his 100th career NHL point...Columbus' power-play tally in the first period snapped an 0-for-20 drought...Umberger has played in a Blue Jackets record 251 consecutive games...The teams will play the second leg of a home-and-home series on Tuesday in Columbus...Dallas went 1-for-4 with the man advantage, while Columbus was 1-for-5.