Sabres vs. Stars | How to watch, lineup notes and storylines

The Buffalo Sabres seek a third straight win when they face the Dallas Stars on Thursday at 7 p.m. at KeyBank Center.

Buffalo enters the matchup 2-1-0 after a pair of comeback wins on home ice. Most recently, on Tuesday, it trailed 2-0 through 40 minutes before storming back and beating the Wild with an Owen Power overtime winner.

• Recap: ‘Awesome’ Owen Power leads comeback vs. Minnesota

Both wins have seen Buffalo carry play but fail to bury early chances against goalies Spencer Knight (CHI) and Jesper Wallstedt (MIN). The Sabres lead the NHL with a 65.4-percent share of the expected goals at even strength, per Natural Stat Trick, and when they can control a game like that, the dam will eventually break.

“We just stuck with it, really,” said Power, who leads the team with five points (1+4) to start the season. “We played in their end, we played fast and [were] able to hem them in and wear them down.”

Now comes another matchup with a Central Division contender in the Stars, who’ve started 1-2-0 but boast a collection of top talent – Mikko Rantanen, Jason Robertson, Wyatt Johnston, Miro Heiskanen, etc. And goalie Jake Oettinger has a .943 save percentage in two starts, so it could take another persistent effort from the Sabres’ offense to break through.

Here are all the details before Thursday’s puck drop.

How to watch

TV (Sabres broadcast market): MSG (Pregame coverage begins at 6:30 p.m.)

Streaming (Sabres broadcast market): DAZN

Streaming (out of market): ESPN+

Radio: WGR 550 / Buffalo Sabres App

More ways to watch/listen to Sabres games

Lineup notes

Mattias Samuelsson sat out Wednesday’s practice for scheduled maintenance – he should be in the lineup Thursday. The Sabres rotated defense pairs at practice in his absence.

The forward line of Tage Thompson, Jiri Kulich and Peyton Krebs is expected to stay together after joining forces for Tuesday’s third-period comeback. More on that group in Wednesday’s practice report.

And Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen had the starter’s net in practice, indicating he’ll likely start against the Stars.

Check back after the 10:30 a.m. morning skate and 6:30 p.m. warmups for potential updates.

Notable numbers

• The Sabres are on a 19-0-3 run against Western Conference opponents, their last regulation loss coming Dec. 8 in Calgary.
• Linemates Zach Benson, Noah Östlund and Jack Quinn have played 35:25 together at 5-on-5; the Sabres lead 3-1 in goals, 17-6 in shots and 27-11 in scoring chances during those shifts (Natural Stat Trick).
• The Sabres have won 50.6 percent of their faceoffs so far, including 52.5 and 55.6 percent in the two wins. Last season, they didn’t have their second game above 50 percent until Dec. 1.
• Josh Norris (57.1 percent) and Ryan McLeod (55.9) lead the team on faceoffs so far.
• Beck Malenstyn leads the Sabres with 12 hits, Louis Crevier with five blocked shots.
• Some small-sample-size fun: Quinn and Thompson are on pace for 56 goals, Power for 140 points.
• Thompson (215 career goals) is one behind Don Luce for 11th on the franchise leaderboard, and two behind Jason Pominville for 10th.

Scouting the Stars

After beating Quinn Hughes on Tuesday, the Sabres take on another top defenseman in Heiskanen, who leads Dallas with two goals so far. Since the start of 2022-23, Heiskanen ranks eighth among NHL blueliners with 181 total assists – Rasmus Dahlin ranks seventh with 204.

Like the Sabres, the Stars are still searching for their first power-play goal of the season, having started 0-for-8 through three games. They last played Monday, a 5-0 win over the Sharks in Dallas.