Maybe it was relentless optimism or overconfidence, but the Columbus Blue Jackets insisted both ends of their special teams — power play and penalty kill — were better than the numbers might indicate. And the numbers weren’t pretty.

The Blue Jackets had several strong performances Tuesday in a 5-1 win over the Dallas Stars before 18,532 at American Airlines Center, but it was the perfection of their special teams that stood as the best news coming out of a clutch road win.

Adam Fantilli, Boone Jenner and Kent Johnson each had a goal and an assist, and goaltender Elvis Merzlikins had 22 saves and was the game’s first star as the Blue Jackets pulled away with three goals in the third period to move to .500 on the season.

Denton Mateychuk and Dmitri Voronkov also scored third-period goals.

Two of the Blue Jackets’ goals — one by Jenner, one by Voronkov — came on the power play, which was tremendous news for an ailing unit. The Jackets (1-for-13 entering the game) had just gone 0-for-9 during a three-game homestand and came into the night ranked dead last in the league.

They were dead last in the penalty kill, too, which is a rarely seen two-pack of futility. But Tuesday, they killed both of the Stars’ man advantages, one in the first period and one in the second. Part of the success, to be sure, was that the Blue Jackets were only short-handed twice.

“We talked about getting our chances on the power play, and how it just hasn’t gone in,” Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason told reporters in Dallas. “We didn’t score a lot early (in the season). The guys take pride in that, obviously. They probably read more of everybody’s stuff (in the media) than we (coaches) do, but yeah, they take pride in that, and it was a concern for us. Obviously, it has to continue to be really good.”

The Blue Jackets improved to 2-1 on the road, which is rather underwhelming unless you know their recent history. They didn’t win their second road game last season until Nov. 18, and they finished 14-23-4 away from home — a big reason they missed the postseason by only 2 points.

Merzlikins continued his strong start to the season. He made 12 of his 23 saves in the second period when the Stars made a major push back from a 2-0 first-period deficit. Merzlikins didn’t get his second win last season until Dec. 1.

“That second period, he held us in the game, right?” Evason said. “I mean, we knew they were going to push. We had a good first, so we knew they were gonna come out. Yeah, he kept us in it. They got one. But he didn’t let them tie it up and get, you know, energized and get the crowd into it. Yeah, he played extremely well.”

With the lead intact, the Blue Jackets steadied in the third and got back to being the aggressive, forechecking, puck-possessing club they were in the first.

At 7:21 of the third, Mateychuk came into the offensive zone with speed and was greeted by a pass from Yegor Chinakhov. Mateychuk skated into the slot toward Stars defenseman Thomas Harley, who barely attempted to defend or block Mateychuk’s path or shot.

Mateychuk scored his first of the season, a wrist shot that beat Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger to the near post.

“I didn’t know what was behind me, but I didn’t see anything in front of me,” Mateychuk told FanDuel Sports Ohio after the game. “I had some runway. I walked in and I noticed the defender (Harley) was kind of frozen, so I pushed to the middle.”

DENTON FIRES HIS FIRST GOAL OF THE SEASON! 💥

CBJ x @FanaticsBook pic.twitter.com/KTRLCnZJUz

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) October 22, 2025

That turned out to be a big insurance goal for the Blue Jackets, who carried play the rest of the way.

At 14:26, and with the Jackets on a power play, Voronkov one-timed a pass from Sean Monahan that beat Oettinger from the high slot to make it 4-1. Johnson’s empty net goal, from 120 feet away, capped the scoring with 3:00 remaining.

Just four days ago, the Blue Jackets were disappointed in their play against the Colorado Avalanche in an ugly road win. The coaches were angry, and the fans in Columbus were starting to worry whether last year’s surprising success was just a blip.

Evason coached them hard Friday. They played much more engaged hockey in a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday in Nationwide Arena, but it wasn’t a perfect game, and they had to grind their way to the buzzer. It was probably a bigger win than most would admit in the dressing room.

Tuesday’s win was more impressive, though. The Blue Jackets played with the same pressure and energy, the same attention to detail. But they had all facets of their game working well against the Stars. It’s a rare road game when the coach can roll all four lines in the third period.

Now they face a weekend back-to-back versus the Washington Capitals (Friday) and the Pittsburgh Penguins (on the road Saturday).

“It’s trusting in our game and trusting in ourselves in the room,” said Jenner, the Blue Jackets’ captain. “Everyone knows what to expect from each other, and when we do that, we’re a really good team and really hard to play against.”