Greaves makes 28 saves, Blue Jackets shut out Stars

COLUMBUS -- Jet Greaves made 28 saves for his first shutout of the season, and the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Dallas Stars 1-0 at Nationwide Arena on Thursday.

Greaves has three career shutouts in 55 games for Columbus.

“Just a lot of commitment to the details,” Greaves said. “I think that's something that we've been talking about, that we've been really preaching lately and I thought the guys did a great job of that tonight.

“I felt good. I think it was such a good job in front of me. Obviously, it's a great team we're playing against. They've got a lot of high-end skill there and I thought the guys did a really good job on the special teams, in the D-zone, all those little details.”

Zach Werenski scored the lone goal for the Blue Jackets (23-20-7), who have won five of their past six.

“Everyone played hard,” Werenski said. “We played our team game. Guys were blocking shots. Jet obviously made a ton of huge saves.

“Those games are hard to win but they feel really good and I feel like everyone was bought in tonight, so it's good for us to know we can win those type of games.”

Casey DeSmith made 21 saves for the Stars (28-14-9), who have lost four of five and will play the second of a back-to-back set against the St. Louis Blues at home on Friday.

“We just didn't execute on some of our chances,” Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan said. “You can see it was a pretty tight checking game, but we had a lot of looks. A lot of good looks even late, and breakaways, and some 2-on-1s. I thought their goaltender was really, really good. I thought ours was too.”

Werenski put Columbus up 1-0 at 8:48 of the first period with a wrist shot from the right face-off circle that beat DeSmith through traffic.

“I feel like most goals, I'm just trying to miss the screen in front of me, to be honest,” Werenski said. “You know, when guys are in front of the net it’s really tough to see so just trying to get it by them and stuff like that happens and pucks find their way into the net.”

Greaves stopped Stars forward Mavrik Bourque on a breakaway at 5:16 of the third period to preserve the lead, and Dallas forward Justin Hryckowian hit the crossbar at 18:51 from in tight.

“It's frustrating,” Stars forward Wyatt Johnston said. “You’ve got to work hard to get your looks and then you also got to work even harder to finish them and continuing to get looks.”

Dallas has scored one goal in each of its past four losses, with a 6-2 victory against the Boston Bruins serving as the only win during the stretch.

“A lot of good things, just didn't get the win,” Stars defenseman Thomas Harley said. “I thought we created some offense tonight. I thought we defended reasonably well but we just couldn't get one over the line.”

The Blue Jackets are 4-1-0 since coach Rick Bowness replaced Dean Evason, who was fired on Jan. 12.

“The fans got their money's worth tonight, for sure,” Bowness said. “Actually, that's how we want to play. And that's fun, for me to be behind the bench watching that effort.”

Columbus forward Charlie Coyle played his 1,000th NHL game.

“It's just nice to win. It's a big two points, but these milestones and things to celebrate are all fun,” he said. “It's a part of it. It's nice but when you win, it makes it that much better and you can enjoy it a little more. So that's what I'm happy about.

“I know we're all happy about that. That was a great game by us to get the job done. That was huge.”

NOTES: Werenski recorded his 18th career game-winning goal and passed David Vyborny (17) for the fifth-most in franchise history. ... Blue Jackets forward Mason Marchment returned to the lineup after missing the past eight games with an upper-body injury. He had one shot on goal in 18:23 of ice time. ... Columbus forward Isac Lundestrom returned after missing 13 games with a lower-body injury. He had one assist in 7:27 of ice time.