e Bautista flyout and Hughes struck out Edwin Encarnacion

COLUMBUS, Ohio - While Artem Anisimov has found another level of play, the Blue Jackets are still trying to find how to keep the pressure on as they chase a playoff spot. Anisimov scored twice, including a late insurance goal, as Columbus held off a third-period Dallas rally for a 4-2 win over the Dallas Stars. "Right now might be as good as weve seen him play in a Columbus uniform," Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards said of Anisimov, who has scored five times in the last four games. "Two huge goals for us, especially the last one with the way the game was going." Columbus dug in for its third straight win to climb into a tie for seventh with the Rangers in the Eastern Conference. "Bobs (Sergei Bobrovsky) our last line of defence and its a great last line to have," Richards said. "But as a young team going forward and playing with leads, a 3-0 lead, thats where you want to continue to go after teams." The Blue Jackets are vying for only their second post-season appearance since joining the league in 2000. Columbus scored on the first shot of the game and bolted ahead on first-period goals by Boone Jenner, R.J. Umberger and Anisimov against backup Dan Ellis. Ellis was shaky early in making his first appearance since Feb. 1. "Its not easy," Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said of his goalies long layoff. "I kind of felt for him. The first shot got by him and I think that maybe rattled him a little bit." At the other end, Bobrovsky finished with 31 saves, one on an open shot by Jamie Benn with 5 minutes left with the Blue Jackets clinging to a one-goal lead. Bobrovsky nimbly tracked loose pucks and shots from near the crease all game to improve to 5-0-1 against Dallas. Defencemen Alex Goligoski and Trevor Daley had goals early in the third period for the Stars. With the loss, Dallas, which had won five of seven, still sits in eighth place in the Western Conference. Leading 3-0 entering the final period, Columbus seemed in control even though it had been drastically outshot since taking the big lead near the midpoint of the first. But the Stars finally broke through, scoring about two minutes apart. Goligoski fired home a rebound on the power play from near the crease, his fourth goal and second in as many games after a 48-game drought. Daley followed with his fifth on a redirection from between the circles off a soft point shot by Sergei Gonchar. "Sometimes you are going to get hit with some adversity," Ruff said of his teams slow start. "We were knocking on the door and we had a couple of good opportunities." Dallas kept coming, but Anisimov all but ended it with his 18th at 15:53 on a backhander after circling toward the crease from behind the net with Goligoski on his back. "We wanted to start fast," Umberger said. "We were prepared for a fast game. They get up and down the ice pretty quick. The first period definitely was the reason we won tonight. Bob held the fort for us the rest of the game." The Blue Jackets benefited from one stick-handling flub after another by Dallas defensive corps in the first period. With a fill head of steam, Jenner sent a long snap shot from the left circle into the far corner above Ellis outstretched glove for his 11th. Then the miscues. Aaron Rome then swept the puck off Brandon Dubinskys stick in the slot to a streaking Umberger, who scored his 17th. Just over four minutes later, the Stars Jordie Benn cleared the puck into traffic to teammate Cody Eakin, who bobbled it back toward the net to Anisimov. The big centre turned and sent a backhander past Ellis to make it 3-0. "Hes just stepping up and making big plays," Umberger said of Anisimov. "You can see hes capable, hes confident right now. Hes strong on the puck." The Stars outshot Columbus 12-1 in the second period but didnt have many prime scoring chances other than two by Tyler Seguin on a power play that Bobrovsky smothered. "We had a good first and the second wasnt our strongest period," Jenner said. "I thought we did a good job in the intermission of regrouping, knowing we still had the lead. I thought we had good desperation in the third." Notes: The Stars traded injured D Stephane Robidas to the Ducks on Tuesday for a conditional fourth-round pick. ... Columbus played without injured defencemen Fedor Tyutin and Ryan Murray, both out with lower-body injuries. ... Dallas entered 16-5-3 against the Blue Jackets in Nationwide Arena. ... Dallas C Rich Peverley did not play due to an upper-body injury. ... Stars LW Antoine Roussel become the fourth player from France to appear in at least 100 NHL games. Aaron Hicks Jersey . Solomon Elimimian did not make the trip with the team after suffering what appeared to be a right leg injury in the teams regular season finale against the Calgary Stampeders. Giancarlo Stanton Yankees Jersey . The club was unable to retain hitting coach Kevin Seitzer, who is bound for Atlanta. Seitzer replaces Greg Walker, who was assisted by Scott Fletcher this season as the Braves finished 79-83. https://www.cheapyankees.com/581g-bill-dickey-jersey-yankees.html .com) - Kam Chancellor bobbed his head in celebration as he crossed the goal line on his game-clinching 90-yard interception return. Phil Rizzuto Jersey . First, the Red Wings scored the tying goal after officials missed the puck hitting the protective netting, then the Kings wound up losing in a shootout. That could affect playoff positioning in the Eastern and Western Conferences, and thats a concern for everyone. Gleyber Torres Yankees Jersey . Bjoerndalen, who had failed to win any major race for two years before Sochi, writes in a Facebook entry that he is "full of energy and inspiration" after winning the 10-kilometre sprint and mixed relay at last months Olympics.TORONTO -- The Toronto Blue Jays want to put a couple of series losses behind them as they head out for a 10-game road trip that should give them a good idea of whether theyre actually ready to be a contender in the American League East. Toronto dropped a 7-2 decision to the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday afternoon, with only a pair of late runs preventing a second straight shutout loss. Josh Willingham belted a two-run homer in the first inning and Kendrys Morales hit a bases-clearing double in the seventh as the Twins took the rubber game of the three-game series. Twins starter Phil Hughes (7-2) struck out nine and allowed seven hits over seven shutout innings. With the loss, Torontos lead atop the division standings fell to five games over Baltimore and New York. The Orioles were home to Boston on Wednesday night while the Yankees were in Seattle. The Blue Jays will play Baltimore and New York next week before closing out their trip against the Cincinnati Reds. "Well see how good we are," said Toronto manager John Gibbons. "Were playing a couple good teams in our division. Weve got a small little lead on them but theyre right there. So we need to play good baseball on this road trip, especially the way the last four or five games have gone. "For our psyche more than anything else we need to regroup and put a couple good ball games together." Toronto (39-28) has been giving up early leads of late, with the opposition scoring first for the seventh straight time Wednesday. Danny Santana opened the game with a single off Marcus Stroman (3-1), who was making his third career start. The leadoff man scored when Willingham turned on a 1-2 pitch and put it into the second deck. "It was just a bad pitch," Stroman said. "It was probably the worst pitch of the outing. It was just one of those that was supposed to be buried but it just kind of hung up there. I tried to do too much with it." The Blue Jays starter allowed three earned runs and nine hits while striking out four. Triple-A callup Bobby Korecky replaced him in the seventh and loaded the bases before Morales cleared them with a three-run double. Toronto avoided the embarrassment of a fourth shutout loss in five games by scratching out a pair of runs in the eighth. Casey Fien got the last four outs for his first save of the season. "Theres no doubt weve cooled off with the bats," Gibbons said. "But that can turn in one day, that can turn overnight. But I do think its going to be good to get out on the road. "Weve been at home a long time. AA little change of pace, a little change of scenery might do us some good.dddddddddddd" The Blue Jays led several offensive categories last month and, despite the recent cold stretch, have won 16 of their last 22 games and 21 of 29. "The bats are going to come around," Stroman said. "All the guys in the clubhouse are pretty positive about it. I have 100 per cent confidence in every single guy in that lineup that the guys are going to start doing what they were doing at the beginning of the year. Its close." The Twins, meanwhile, moved two games under the .500 mark with the win. Minnesota (31-33) outhit Toronto 16-10 while Hughes picked up his ninth quality start of the season. "Super job by him of changing speeds, moving the ball in and out," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "He used his breaking ball a lot better today." Hughes did well to get out of a jam in the sixth inning after Toronto shortstop Jose Reyes extended his hitting streak to 12 games with an infield single. Reyes moved to third base on a Melky Cabrera single to put runners on the corners with nobody out. Oswaldo Arcia made a nice sliding catch in foul territory on a Jose Bautista flyout and Hughes struck out Edwin Encarnacion and Adam Lind to escape. "I felt like I kind of found myself in the third or fourth inning and was able to ride that through," Hughes said. The Blue Jays fell to 20-17 at home this season. They have been much stronger away from Rogers Centre this year and at 19-11, have the fewest road losses in the major leagues. "The bats will heat up again," Gibbons said. "Hopefully sooner than later." Notes: Announced attendance was 45,080. There were several groups of schoolchildren in the crowd. ... Koreckys callup from the Buffalo Bisons was announced Wednesday morning and he was sent back down after the game. The Blue Jays also optioned outfielder Kevin Pillar to the Bisons and recalled outfielder Darin Mastroianni. ... Dozier left the game in the fourth inning due to tightness in his lower back. He was replaced at second base by Eduardo Escobar and is listed as day to day. ... Toronto will kick off a four-game series at Baltimore on Thursday night. Left-hander Mark Buehrle (10-2, 2.04 ERA) is scheduled to start against right-hander Kevin Gausman (1-1, 4.91). ... The Blue Jays will get an off-day Monday before playing three games against the Yankees and three against the Reds. ... Reyes turned 31 on Wednesday. ... The game took two hours 57 minutes to play. ' ' '