At The Final Horn | Sabres fall to Stars on the road

The Buffalo Sabres couldn't overcome a slow start Sunday afternoon in their 4-2 loss to the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center.
Tage Thompson and Cody Eakin scored for Buffalo, but the Sabres were down at least two goals for most of the game.
Craig Anderson made 27 saves.
For Dallas, Michael Raffl scored twice, and Roope Hintz and Denis Gurianov also upped their goal totals. Jake Oettinger stopped 38 shots.
The Sabres have now lost six in a row.
Buffalo's power play finished 0-for-1 and went 2-for-3 on the power play.

How it happened

The Stars outshot the Sabres 9-0 to start the game before Buffalo registered its first shot on goal at the 9:53 mark when Jeff Skinner put one on in tight.
Buffalo went on the power play shortly thereafter, but could not convert.
With 7:25 remaining in the opening period, Redek Faska's shot from the top of the right faceoff circle was deflected in by Raffl.
Buffalo was outshot 18-6 after 20 minutes.
Dallas took a 2-0 lead 6:34 into the second when Joe Pavelski found a wide-open Hintz in the slot with a pass from the right halfwall.
Thompson got Buffalo on the board at the 8:23 mark of the second when he wired a shot in from the right faceoff circle for his 22nd goal of the year.
Raffl pounced on a loose puck in front off a rebound to score his second of the day with 3:44 remaining in the middle frame to make It 3-1 Dallas.
Jamie Benn's shot from the point on the man advantage was redirected in by Gurianov 8:56 into the third period, giving Dallas a three-goal lead.

Eakin made it 4-2 when he cut in on goal and eventually put the puck in over the line with 5:58 remaining. He scored his last goal on November 26, a span of 33 games.
Buffalo made a push at the end with Anderson pulled, but Oettinger and the Stars defense held strong. The Sabres outshot the Stars 23-5 in the third period.

Roll the highlight film

Here's Thompson's goal:

Worthy of a mention

Thompson wrapped up the month of February with eight goals and 11 points. At the conclusion of Sunday's game, his eight goals during February's 10 games were tied for sixth-best in the NHL.

Coming up

The Sabres will practice on Tuesday in Buffalo before heading to Toronto for a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday.
Faceoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on MSG and WGR 550. MSG's pregame coverage starts at 7.