Sabres top Stars 5-3
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
It was another night of a lot of shots against for the Dallas Stars and this time around more of them went into the net. The end result was a 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at HSBC Center, the Stars' fourth defeat in five games since the Olympic break.
The Stars and Sabres were tied 3-3 after the first 20 minutes but Buffalo dominated the final 40 minutes, scoring in the second to take the lead and adding a late empty-net goal to seal the win.
"It was a game that was there in the balance, but we were guilty of turning over a few too many pucks and trying to make the game a little more complicated than it needed to be, "said Stars coach Marc Crawford. "You win games at this time of year by being mentally tough and not over complicating your game. We were guilty of not doing that."
The Stars gave up five goals or more for the fourth time in five games and have now surrendered 25 goals during that stretch. After getting outshot 52-26 in Washington Monday night, they were outshot 43-20 Wednesday night in Buffalo.
"I was disappointed with the play of our centers tonight," said Crawford. "We were careless with the puck tonight. We got all our goals making good decisions in the offensive zone, taking pucks to the net and playing a simple game. We turned a lot of pucks over. It wasn't just our centers, it was our skilled forwards that really let us down in those crucial areas tonight. We turned over pucks, we tried to make complicated plays. We didn't play with the simplicity that got us the three goals."
The loss left the Stars in 10th place in the Western Conference, five points behind eighth place Calgary with 16 games to go.
"Every game is so vital to not getting any farther behind," said Stars goalie Marty Turco, who made 38 saves in the game. "We need to win to stay afloat and need some help from the other teams."
The Stars, who wrapped up a three-game road trip with a 1-2-0 record, open crucial a six-game homestand on Friday.
"We don't have a long time to worry about this one," said Crawford. "We've got to get ourselves re-energized and come ready to play Friday."
Both teams scored three times in the first period. Tyler Myers, Mark Mancari and Jason Pominville scored for Buffalo and Toby Petersen, Steve Ott and Jamie Benn tallied for the Stars.
The Sabres took the lead for good midway through the second period when Mancari set up a wide open Thomas Vanek, who scored from the slot. Derek Roy added a late empty net goal for the Sabres, who won their third straight and won in regulation for only the second time in their last 12.
The Sabres got a brilliant performance from Myers, their rookie defenseman. He had a goal, three assists and a plus-four rating in the game.
"He's been an important piece to our team," coach Lindy Ruff said of the player who celebrated his 20th birthday last month. "I thought even in the third period, he was just having fun playing."
The Stars open their six-game homestand Friday night against the Los Angeles Kings.
| Game Recap |
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The first period wasn't one
for the goalies. There were six goals scored, three by both
teams. The Sabres scored 55 seconds into the game when a Tyler
Myers shot from the point bounced off Stars defenseman Trevor
Daley and past Stars goalie Marty Turco.
The Stars bounced at the 2:59 mark when Daley's shot from the left point was deflected past Sabres goalie Ryan Miller by Toby Petersen. Buffalo got the lead back at the 7:49 mark, just four seconds after a penalty to Stars forward Mike Modano expired. Defenseman Craig Rivet sent a pass from behind the net to Mark Mancari, who scored from close range. The Stars tied it at the 12:28 mark when Loui Eriksson forced a neutral zone turnover and Brad Richards set up Steve Ott, who scored off from the slot off the rush. The Stars took their first lead of the game at the 17:56 mark when Jamie Benn beat Miller with a shot from the left circle of the rush. But Buffalo tied the game with 57 seconds left in the first when a Myers shot was deflected past Turco by Jason Pominville. The Sabres outshot the Stars 15-5 in the second period and got the only goal. That came at the 10:05 mark when Mancari picked off the rebound of a Myers shot and sent a pass from behind the net to a wide open Thomas Vanek, who snapped a shot past Turco to give Buffalo a 4-3 lead. The Stars had a couple of good chances in the third. Miller made a nice stop on Daley off the rush. Stephane Robidas had a point shot go off the post. The Stars pulled Turco with a little more than a minute to go for the extra attacker, but Derek Roy scored into an empty net with 18 seconds remaining to seal the win. |
| Quotable |
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"We were guilty of turning
over too many pucks and trying to make the game more complicated
than it needed to be. We had eight and nine-year pros trying to
make passes behind their back in the offensive zone. You don't
do that in Junior B." - Stars coach Marc Crawford "It's our season. If we don't get the ship in the right direction, you might as well call it a season." - Stars forward Steve Ott on the team's upcoming six-game homestand "It was good to see the guys put some pucks in and get rewarded for their effort. It was a pretty complete game." - Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller |
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