Dallas, Texas (WGR Sports Radio 550/WBEN) - The Buffalo Sabres' winning streak came to a halt on Tuesday night, as the quest for four wins in-a-row eluded the team again.
The Dallas Stars earned a 4-2 victory at the American Airlines Center, thanks, in part, to dominating puck possession and winning 73.5% of their faceoff draws against the Sabres.
The opening period was a scoreless one, but not for lack of effort. Both sides traded strong chances, highlighted by an opportunistic Stars power play that the Sabres snuffed late in the frame.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and company held strong through the two-minute man advantage to keep things square heading to the first intermission.
Another fruitless 10 minutes went by before Dallas broke the scoreless tie at the midway point of the middle stanza. Forward Roope Hintz walked down the slot, and beat Luukkonen glove-side for a 1-0 Stars lead.
Dallas' lead lasted a whole 31 seconds, though, as the Sabres answered immediately for their netminder. Jason Zucker drove home his 11th goal of the campaign behind goalie Casey DeSmith to make it a 1-1 contest.
Two-and-a-half minutes into the third, the Stars took another lead.
After swirling for a considerable shift, it appeared the Sabres had weathered the storm. Unfortunately, Jack Quinn gave the puck away to Jason Robertson, and the forward made no mistake in giving Dallas a 2-1 edge.
Impressively again, the Sabres formulated another quick response. Just 2:23 after Robertson's go-ahead tally, Sam Lafferty's pass towards the crease bounded in off the skate of lineman Beck Malenstyn.
His fourth goal of the year tied the game at 2-2 in the early goings of the third period.
Later in the frame, the Stars took the team's third one-goal lead of the evening. A tip drill just to the right of Luukkonen resulted in a 3-2 Dallas lead with 8:28 left in regulation.
Forward Wyatt Johnston deflected defenseman Thomas Harley's shot from the wall high and in over the shoulder of Luukkonen.
Dallas later claimed the first multi-goal lead of the game with just 97 seconds left in regulation. Defenseman Esa Lindell nailed an empty-net from his own goal line to make it 4-2, Stars.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: NONE
DAL: NONE
Second Period:
BUF: 10:20 - Jason Zucker (11) (Tage Thompson, Bowen Byram)
DAL: 9:49 - Roope Hintz (16) (Jason Robertson, Thomas Harley)
Third Period:
BUF: 4:57 - Beck Malenstyn (4) (Sam Lafferty, Ryan McLeod)
DAL: 2:35 - Jason Robertson (9) (Unassisted); 11:32 - Wyatt Johnston (9) (Thomas Harley); 18:23 - Esa Lindell (3) ENG (Jason Robertson, Casey DeSmith)
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Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Roope Hintz - DAL
2.) Thomas Harley - DAL
3.) Jason Robertson - DAL
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What's next:
The Sabres continue their Western Conference road trip in Colorado, visiting the Avalanche on Thursday night at Ball Arena. Puck drop is set for 9 p.m. EST with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.