Final: BUF 1 DAL 5
Shots: BUF 28 DAL 22
Power Play: BUF 0/4 DAL 1/1
Hits: BUF 23 DAL 14
Blocked Shots: BUF 18 DAL 14
Goals:
DAL: Remi Elie (1) assisted by Antoine Roussel (2)
DAL: Radek Faksa (3) assisted by Gemel Smith (1) and John Klingberg (9)
DAL: Stephen Johns (2) assisted by Gemel Smith (2) and Radek Faksa (4)
DAL: Tyler Seguin (8) assisted by John Klingberg (10) and Alex Radulov (7)
BUF: Ryan O’Reilly (5) unassisted
DAL: Antoine Roussel (1) assisted by John Klingberg (11) and Tyler Seguin (7)
Lines:
Kane-Eichel-Pominville
Pouliot-O’Reilly-Okposo
Girgensons-Reinhart-Griffith
Moulson-Larsson-Nolan
Scandella-Falk
McCabe-Tennyson
Antipin-Fedun
Lehner
Buffalo is coming off of a 5-4 win over the worst team in the NHL, the Arizona Coyotes. Phil Housley kept the lines the same for tonight as the Coyotes game from Thursday. It’s understandable that he’d not want to shake things up after a nice performance by the team but I don’t understand why Nick Baptiste is sitting in the press box for two consecutive games since he’s been called up. Matt Moulson has been practically invisible and completely ineffective whenever he’s been in the lineup. This team needs speed in the bottom six and Baptiste can bring that. There’s no reason he should be sitting right now. The only difference in the lineup tonight is that Taylor Fedun is back in after Ristolainen sustained an upper-body injury. Ristolainen will be out day to day with the upper-body injury. He joins Beaulieu, Bogosian, and Gorges as the injured Sabres defensemen. Robin Lehner has done very well as of late and had a great performance against the Coyotes despite allowing four goals.
The Stars connected early to make it 1-0. Lehner tried to pass to Matt Tennyson from behind the net, Tennyson couldn’t get to the puck, Antoine Roussel put the puck on net, and Remi Elie poked the puck through Lehner’s 5-hole to give the Stars the lead. Jake McCabe was out to lunch on that play. Before the goal, the Sabres were in control of the game. They sustained pressure in the offensive zone and had quite a few chances early.
Shortly after Elie’s goal, the Stars make a great transition up the ice to make it 2-0. Gemel Smith put the puck on net, Robin Lehner let out a rebound, and Radek Faksa had an easy tap-in goal as Matt Tennyson couldn’t clear the puck from the front of the net.
And before you can blink, the Stars made it 3-0. Dallas had a 3 on 2 rush and Gemel Smith dropped the puck back to Stephen Johns who then ripped the puck past Lehner to put the stars up 3-0. That would be the end of the night for Robin Lehner and Chad Johnson would play goal for the rest of this game. Not a great showing from Lehner on the three goals but the team’s defense has to be better on all three of those goals as well. I wouldn’t necessarily give all the blame to Lehner on these three goals. The defense has to be better along with the goaltending on the goals. It’d be nice if the defense didn’t leave Lehner hung out to dry on a consistent basis but then again, what can you expect when you have three AHL defensemen in your lineup in Matt Tennyson, Taylor Fedun, and Justin Falk.
Matt Tennyson took a slashing penalty and the Stars went on the power play for the first time of tonight’s game. Tyler Seguin received a pass on his off wing and fired a shot past Johnson short side and now the Stars are up 4-0. The Sabres had a nice start to the game but once Dallas scored that first goal, it just went completely out of control from there. Not good enough at all in the 1st period.
Late in the 2nd, Ryan O’Reilly got a quick shot off of a faceoff and managed to beat Kari Lehtonen to put the Sabres on the board. O’Reilly really struggled at the start of the season but has turned it around as of late. That goal was O’Reilly’s 12th point of the season. After the O’Reilly goal, the Sabres went on the power play and Eichel nearly scored to cut Dallas’ lead in half after he ripped the puck off the post.
With about a minute to go in the 2nd, the Stars had great pressure in the offensive zone hemming the Sabres in their own end. And Antoine Roussel redirected the puck past Johnson for the 1st goal of the season. The 2nd period was considerably better than the 1st but they still need to be much better.
Buffalo had two power plays early on in the 3rd period. They were certainly getting their chances but they just couldn’t connect.
It was a very uneventful 3rd period. No goals from either team and it seemed as if there were very little scoring chances from either side. The Sabres have a lot to work on for Tuesday’s game against the Washington Capitals. Just a brutal showing by the Sabres overall. Plain and simple, they need to be better.
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