If there is a defining moment of the 2009-10 NHL season for the Columbus Blue Jackets, it was Thursday night in Edmonton.
 
After the Oilers tied the game at two early in the third period, the Jackets immediately responded and ever since have played like the playoff team of last season.
 
“The whole season changed with that third goal in Edmonton,” Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock said. “When they tied the game at two, it was ‘oh no, here we go again, something bad is going to happen.’ When we scored the third goal right away in Edmonton, this whole season has changed.”
 
The play continued Sunday night with a 2-0 win over the Dallas Stars in front of 14,501 in Nationwide Arena. It’s the third straight win for Columbus, who have moved from 14 points to eight points out of eighth place in the Western Conference in a matter of four days.
 
“I don’t see any reason why we can’t play like this the rest of the year,” Hitchcock said “They players are comfortable in this type of game. I’m hoping we can continue down this path and play this way.”

The Jackets last won three straight Nov. 13-19—the three games before the Jackets six-week freefall began. The team is 4-2-2 in its last eight games after going 2-12-5 in the previous 19 games.
 
Raffi Torres and Antoine Vermette scored for the Jackets, while Mathieu Garon picked up his second shutout of the season with 26 saves.
 
Garon had several key saves, including two stops on break-a-ways and a two-on-one break. He’s won three straight after a 0-4-3 stretch.
 
“I’m feeling good, but guys are blocking lots of shots in front of me and taking care of the rebounds and all I have to do is the first save,” Garon said. “I think as a (defensive) group, we felt great.”
 
Torres scored off a cross-ice feed from Derek Brassard at 8:20 to give the Jackets the only goal they’d need. The Jackets are 18-2-2 when Torres scores.
 
“It was a great pass,” Torres said. “Brass can make those plays all night long when you give him that kind of space. It’s just my job to get open and I was fortunate enough to get one in.”
 
Vermette scored a power play goal with 3.8 seconds remaining into an empty net off a Kristian Huselius miss.

Marty Turco had 39 saves for the Stars, who lost for the fifth time in six games. 
 
“Marty played well and you want to help him out,” Stars forward James Neal said. “It’s a tough one to take. Columbus has been struggling, too and you want to come in here and play a hard road game and start up a good road trip. We got away from a few things, but we had chances.”
 
Columbus outshot Dallas 41-26 and went one-for-five on the power play. The Stars went 0-for-5.
 
It was the first loss for Dallas in Columbus since Nov. 1, 2002. The Stars were 12-2-2 coming into the game at Nationwide Arena.
 
The Jackets play in St. Louis Tuesday (8 p.m.) and Chicago (8:30 p.m.) Thursday before hosting the Blackhawks at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
 
dave.seaman@columbuswired.tv
Twitter: @DaveSeaman94