What the Blue Jackets do have is a team that keeps games close. Adam Fantilli won the Vegas game with an overtime goal, and Mateychuk scored in a 4-3 overtime win over the Flyers where Fantilli had a goal and an assist and Cam Talbot made 28 saves. In Carolina they fell behind 3-0 through 40 minutes, scored twice in the 3rd, and still lost 3-2 to a Hurricanes team that was 11-2-2 after the win. A comeback that comes up 1 goal short is still a loss, though, and a team that keeps needing the 3rd period to dig out isn't one you'd call sharp.
The Dallas slide is recent and it's ugly. Before it, the Stars won 3 straight at home: 3-2 over Boston, 3-2 over Winnipeg and 6-3 over the Islanders. Then they gave up 10 goals across the next 2 home games. That's 3-2 in the last 5, and the swing in goals against matches the week the defensemen started going down. The NHL.com projection had Jason Robertson, Roope Hintz and Tyler Seguin together on the top line with Jake Oettinger in net, so the high-end pieces are still there. Getting the puck out of their own end is the part that's broken.
Dallas has more players out than this, too. Matt Duchene is gone for roughly 3 months after core surgery, and Oskar Back is on long-term injured reserve, so the center depth was thin even before Faksa got hurt. Sam Steel coming back after missing 2 games helps a bit. Columbus played Thursday in Raleigh and has to fly to Dallas, but both teams get the same 1 day between games, so neither has a rest edge. The real question for Saturday is whether Lindell and Faksa play. If they do, the Stars look a lot more like the team that won 3 straight. If they don't, the Blue Jackets get the same thin back end that Montreal and New Jersey just ran up the score on.