Sabres open homestand with close loss to Stars

Tage Thompson scored the lone goal for the Buffalo Sabres as they opened a four-game homestand with a 2-1 loss to the Dallas Stars inside KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

The Sabres matched a season-high 48 shots in a tight game that saw five players record five or more shots on goal. Rasmus Dahlin and Dylan Cozens led the way with eight shots apiece while Thompson posted six and Alex Tuch and Owen Power each added five.

Despite holding a 48-30 edge in shots, Buffalo was unable to get anything else by Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger, who made a season-high 47 saves to lead the Stars to their fourth consecutive victory and seventh win in their last 10 games.

“I think we outplayed them the entire game,” Thompson said. “Obviously, Oettinger stood on his head, made a lot of big saves for them to keep it close and give them the lead. And yeah, it’s just one of those games where you face a hot goalie, you get a lot of chances that aren’t going in for you.”

The Sabres outshot the Stars 16-8 in the opening period, holding a 12-2 advantage midway through the first, but found themselves down 1-0 early. Matt Duchene scored the first goal of the game after Thompson went to the penalty box for a hook on Joe Pavelski.

Duchene capitalized on the power play as he took a shot from the left circle, which deflected off a sprawling Erik Johnson and snuck over Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen’s blocker to give Dallas the lead at the 3:58 mark of the first period.

“I actually thought we played really good, especially coming out of the break,” forward Casey Mittelstadt said. “We were making plays and getting pucks to the net, and I even thought we had bodies there as well. … So, yeah, definitely tough to swallow.”

Buffalo finally found the scoresheet on its 21st shot of the game 5:53 into the second as Dahlin fed Thompson, who buried a one-timer from the left circle to beat Oettinger over his right shoulder and tie the score on the power play.  

However, Dallas responded less than four minutes later when Craig Smith took a shot that bounced off Luukkonen’s chest pad and onto the stick of Radek Faksa, who was at the doorstep to bank a shot off Sam Steel’s skate and into the net.

The Sabres earned two more power plays in the second period, generating a total of five shots and numerous chances, but Oettinger held his ground to prevent Buffalo from tying the score with the man advantage.

Thompson thought that the group’s quick puck movement and recovery allowed them to see more chances on the power play and emphasized that the end result did not reflect the team’s effort and opportunities throughout the game.

“I thought our PP was really good tonight. A lot of good looks,” Thompson said. “Should have had three or four more on the power play. … Sometimes you just got to tip your cap to the other goalie.

“Those ones sting, but at least we can look ourselves in the mirror and know we played the right way. And I think that’s just kind of something we got to continue with moving forward.”

Sabres coach Don Granato echoed the sentiment that his team played the game the right way and generated enough chances to win.

“When I look at that – we played hard, we played the right way. The result wasn’t right,” he said. “No one’s happy about that. No one wants to hear about that. I don’t want to hear about that. We didn’t get the win, but we’re playing the game with the pace we need to play it. This is very frustrating.”

Here’s more from Tuesday’s loss.

1. The Sabres’ penalty kill went 4-for-5 on the night, which included two separate 5-on-3 opportunities for Dallas that Buffalo successfully killed.

The penalty-kill unit improved to 33-for-38 (86.8%) since Jan. 1, ranking fourth in the NHL in that span.

Power led all Sabres skaters with 5:06 of shorthanded ice time.

2. Rookie forward Zach Benson stepped in for Jack Quinn, who is expected to miss six to eight weeks after undergoing successful lower-body surgery, on a line with Cozens and JJ Peterka.

The Sabres outshot the Stars 17-1 when the trio was on the ice together at 5-on-5 and held a 5-2 advantage in high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.

3. Dahlin led all skaters with 29:16 of ice time and 15 shot attempts in the loss.

“I was not thinking out there. I just played,” Dahlin said after the game. “I mean, the whole team played great, so it was easy to play out there.”

4. Luukkonen stopped 28 of 30 shots and has recorded a .943 save percentage and 1.57 goals-against average in nine starts in 2024.

Up next

The homestand continues when the Sabres host the St. Louis Blues for a Saturday matinee at KeyBank Center, which includes a special celebration for Sabretooth’s birthday. The first 5,000 kids in attendance will recieve a Sabretooth pillowcase.

Secure your seats here.

The game will be nationally televised on ABC beginning at 1 p.m. Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray will have the radio call on WGR 550.