Plus/Minus: Huselius Leads Jackets Over Stars; Fleury Gets Benched

We're trying something different to replace the old Newsmakers in the NHL posts. Hopefully you'll like it. Each weekday we'll take a look at one positive performance from the previous night (a plus), and one negative performance from the previous night (a minus). It's the plus/minus.Tell us what you think at nhlfanhouse@gmail.com.

More Coverage: Thursday's NHL Scoreboard
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Plus Of The Day: Kristian Huselius, Columbus Blue Jackets

A lot of the discussion from the Columbus-Dallas game will be centered around James Neal's hit on Derek Dorsett (which resulted in Neal getting a five-minute major and a game-misconduct), and the near fight between goaltenders Steve Mason and Marty Turco in what was a physical, penalty-filled game. The star of the night for Columbus -- which pulled out a 4-1 win on the road -- was forward Kristian Huselius, who scored two goals and added an assist in his team-high 22 minutes of ice-time.

Huselius has now recorded six points (three goals, three assists) in his past three games since returning from a shoulder injury, helping lead the Blue Jackets to their third straight win and sixth in the past eight games.

Minus Of The Day: Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins welcomed Sergei Gonchar and Max Talbot back to the lineup on Thursday night in Ottawa, but were still on the losing end of a 6-2 decision that saw starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury get yanked after giving up five consecutive goals.

Some of the blame can be pinned on a relatively inexperienced defense that, thanks to injuries to Alex Goligoski, Kris Letang, Brooks Orpik and Jay McKee, now consists of Deryk Engelland, Ben Lovejoy, Nate Guenin and Martin Skoula, but that doesn't excuse some of the goals Fleury gave up in the third period, including a pair of bad angle goals from defenseman Chris Phillips.

Fleury stopped just 19 of 24 shots on the night, and was pulled for the second time in his past three road starts (the other being a 5-0 loss in San Jose).

Highlight Of The Day: The Atlanta Thrashers overcame a 2-0 deficit to force a shootout on Thursday night, a comeback effort that saw Nik Antropov score his first goal of the season. Entering the night, Antropov led the Thrashers with 16 assists, but had yet to get his name in the goal column. That all changed when he deflected a Tobias Enstrom shot past Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask.