Sabres' road trip ends with loss to Stars

DALLAS – Rasmus Dahlin continued to fight as the final seconds ticked off the clock of the Buffalo Sabres’ 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars inside American Airlines Center.

Dahlin chased the puck into the Buffalo end after Dallas attempted a shot on the empty net. He dove as he neared the faceoff circle, his stick outstretched toward the puck, prompting the nearby official to whistle for an icing with two-tenths of a second remaining.

The allotted time was not enough for an attempt at the tying goal, but the point from Dahlin was reminiscent of his blocked shot on an empty net in the final seconds in Vancouver last month. If he and the Sabres were going to go down, they would do so fighting.

“Everyone in here battled as hard as they can,” Dahlin said after the loss, which eliminated the team from playoff contention.

“We are working our butts off every single night and every single practice, everyone’s got to know that. We want to do something special in Buffalo and everyone is on the train. This summer is going to be very, very important for us.”

The Sabres opened the scoring on a goal from Alex Tuch and, after Jason Robertson scored for the Stars on a redirect, regained the lead on Dahlin’s 20th goal of the season.

The Stars pulled ahead with goals scored 3:30 apart by Wyatt Johnston and Joe Pavelski during the second period, both of which were products of faceoff wins in the Buffalo zone followed by strong forechecks. Johnston’s goal came on a backhand attempt from the slot; Pavelski’s was a deflection off a shot from the point.

The Sabres appeared to tie the game on what was initially ruled a goal for Jack Quinn late in the second period, but the Stars successfully challenged that Dahlin had played the puck with a high stick in the offensive zone during the sequence leading up to the goal.

Buffalo went 0-for-3 on the power play, dropping its success rate to 16.5 percent on the season.

“We never really [found a] rhythm,” Dahlin said. “If we had a really good power play, maybe we would be in a playoff spot right now, who knows? So, we’ve got some work to do there. I have to get better, our power-play guys have to get better. That’s not acceptable if we’re trying to make it.”

The loss marked the end of a playoff push that saw the Sabres come as close as three points out from a wild-card spot on March 14. They were four points out entering their current road trip, which opened with a loss in Detroit on Sunday.

“If you wait until too late in the season to make your push, it’s going to catch up with you at the end and it did this year,” Tuch said.

“… Power play could have been better. PK could have been better. We could have won more than two or three games in a row at a time. Could have played better shift after shift. Could have done a lot of things better, honestly. We got to look upon ourselves. There was no one else besides the guys in this room that put us in the position that we’re in now, myself definitely included.”

Here’s more from Tuesday’s game.

1. Dahlin became the second defenseman in Sabres history to score at least 20 goals in a single season. He joins Phil Housley, who had five such seasons.

Granato lauded Dahlin’s play down the stretch postgame.

“He brings it every night,” Granato said. “He continually infects the rest of the team more and more every day. If you’re ever in doubt about how you need to work, just look at that guy. He is an example – a walking, living example every day of how hard we need to play.”

2. Tuch’s goal extended his point streak to four games, with two goals and five assists in that span. He and Dahlin are tied for the Sabres lead with 58 points each.

Up next

The Sabres play their final home game of the season against the Washington Capitals on Thursday. It will be Fan Appreciation Night at KeyBank Center with giveaways planned throughout the night.

Tickets are available here.

Pregame coverage on MSG/MSG+ begins at 6:30 p.m. with puck drop scheduled for 7. Radio coverage can be found on WGR 550.