Columbus Visits Dallas on Halloween — Stars Ready to Haunt

The Columbus Blue Jackets limp into American Airlines Center on Halloween night sitting at 5-6-0, looking for a win that would pull them back toward respectability. Dallas, at 7-5-1, isn't a juggernaut, but they're the steadier team tonight — and they have the most dangerous player on the ice.

Let's start with the elephant in the room: Mikko Rantanen is operating at a different level than anyone else in this game. Sixteen points through 13 games — 6 goals and 10 assists — makes him the clear offensive engine for Dallas and, frankly, one of the more productive players in the league right now. When a guy is putting up those kinds of numbers, you build your defensive game plan around stopping him. Columbus has to. The question is whether they can.

For the Blue Jackets, Kent Johnson is the name to watch. Seven goals and 11 points on the season show he's capable of generating real offense, and defenseman Zach Werenski has been a quiet facilitator with 9 assists. Columbus isn't without weapons — but they're a 5-6-0 team on the road, and that record tells you something about their consistency. They've had stretches where the offense shows up and stretches where it doesn't. Tonight, against a Dallas team that's been more reliable, they need a full 60-minute effort, not a patchwork one.

In net, Jet Greaves is expected to start for Columbus, while Jake Oettinger is projected in net for Dallas. Oettinger has been one of the better goaltenders in the Western Conference over the past couple of seasons, and home ice at American Airlines Center is a genuine advantage for the Stars. Our model doesn't have a validated read on this one, so we're not pushing a pick — but the structural case for Dallas is straightforward: better record, the best player on the ice, and a home crowd on Halloween. Columbus will need Johnson to be electric and Greaves to be sharp. That's a lot to ask on the road.