COLUMBUS, Ohio – A hot goalie saved the Stars again Wednesday night.

This time, Mike Smith posted 33 saves and stole two points in a 3-2 shootout win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. That performance came on the heels of rookie Tobias Stephan having to stop 38 of 40 shots in a 2-1 overtime loss to Chicago on Saturday – a loss that still gave the Stars a point in the standings.

The great goaltending is masking a Stars team with problems, but coach Dave Tippett said he knows – and the players know – that can't continue.

"We've just got to continue to build our game," Tippett said. "We're not playing with a lot of quickness in the neutral zone. We're fumbling a lot of pucks, and that's leading to a loss of momentum on our side.

"Our coverage in front of the net was poor early, and [Smith] made big saves for us. Those are the ones you need."

The win pushes the Stars to 3-2-2 and gives them eight points – points that captain Brenden Morrow said are "huge."

"We've kind of, the last couple of games, left our goalies out there, and they came up big," Morrow said. "There's a big difference between playing not to lose and playing to win, and that's something I think we're a bit guilty of early in the season. We're playing not to lose instead of playing desperate.

"When we're down late in games, you see that level of desperation, and we're a lot tougher team when we're playing like that."

The Stars were outshot 17-8 in the first period and left Rick Nash and Nikolai Zherdev alone on a two-on-none against Smith less than two minutes into the game. But Smith, who was recovering from a bruised arm and had been spotty in a loss to Nashville, came roaring back and gave the Stars the chance to compete.

Jussi Jokinen tied the score at the 3:17 mark of the first period when he went to the net and tapped in a perfect pass from Stu Barnes. The score stayed that way until Columbus took the lead at the 8:24 mark of the third period on a Jiri Novotny rebound shot.

That seemed to awaken the Stars, and they ended up throwing 15 shots on goal in the third period – finally scoring when Morrow whipped in a wrister from the slot with 1:11 left in regulation. The goal, scored with the extra skater, was a sweet moment for a team that has been searching for chemistry in the young season.

Morrow said he didn't think on the play, he just threw it at the net and hoped for the best.

AP

Stars goalie Mike Smith saves a shot from Columbus' Manny Malhotra during the second period.

And maybe that's a lesson for the Stars. Maybe they're thinking too much.

"I think we were going through some struggles in here, and tonight was a big lift for our team," Smith said. "It was nice to come from behind and get the two points."

The Stars pushed their career shootout record to 22-5 when Smith stopped all three shooters and Jokinen scored on a backhand. The performance by Smith put an exclamation mark on a big night.

"He was anxious to play," Tippett said of Smith's mind-set coming back from the injury and his poor opening performance. "He's been frustrated ever since that Nashville game. We had a hunch he would have a really good game tonight, and he did just that."