Stars blow 3-0 lead, fall to Sabres in shootout
/Andrew's Dallas Stars Page
After staging a rally to beat the Detroit Red Wings on Monday, the Dallas Stars had the tables turned on them Thursday. The Buffalo Sabres overcame deficits of 3-0 and 4-2 to beat the Stars 5-4 in a shootout at the American Airlines Center.
"Word can't describe it," said forward Steve Ott, who had a power play goal and assist in the game. "A lot of negativity. It's a complete jolt to our team and to our character. We had a 3-0 lead and we blew it. It was our fault. We shot ourselves in the foot."
Jason Pominville, who had a pair of assists in regulation, capped off the Sabres' rally by scoring in the sixth round of the shootout to give Buffalo the win and hand the Stars their fourth loss in the last six games (2-2-2).
"We did some good things early and we were in full control, but we let it slip away," said defenseman Matt Niskanen, who scored a power play goal for the Stars. "We changed our game, turned pucks over and handed them the momentum. We got away from our game and that's not something we can do any night."
All the positive momentum that was built in the Detroit win on Monday seemed to carry over into the early part of Thursday's games. Niskanen and Ott scored on the first two power play chances of the game to stake the Stars to a 2-0 lead. Trevor Daley scored on a shot from the point early in the second period and the Stars seemed to be in control of the game. Then the wheels started to come off for the Stars.
"We let momentum get away from us, the grabbed it and they ran with it," said Stars coach Dave Tippett. "And we decided to feed it more. There were penalties to give them momentum and we decided to take more penalties. Then we decided to turn over the puck and give them more momentum. They took and they ran with it."
The Sabres, who played the night before in Chicago and seemed to be running on fumes, got three power play chances in the second period and scored on one of them when Paul Gaustad tipped in a point shot by Craig Rivet. That pushed momentum their way and allowed them to keep pushing they tied the game.
Buffalo's Derek Roy made a great spinning backhand pass to set up Jochen Hecht to make it a 3-2 game early in the third period. When Brad Richards answered 48 seconds later with a wrist shot from the right circle the Stars were up 4-2 and seemed to be in control again.
But the Sabres got a power play later in the period and just as it expired Gaustad tipped in a Drew Stafford pass to cut the Stars' lead to 4-3 with 10:07 remaining in the game. Just 16 seconds later the Sabres drew even when Clarke MacArthur tipped home a Jaroslav Spacek shot from the point.
The Sabres weren't done. They continued to press but only some big saves by Marty Turco, who stopped 31 shots on the night, kept the game from ending in regulation.
"Thank God we had Turco back there or we may not have even gotten a point," said Daley. "It's disappointing."
There was more disappointment in the shootout, which went six shooters deep. After the first four shooters for both teams missed, Jere Lehtinen scored off a wrist shot to put the Stars up 1-0. That left Roy as Buffalo's last hope and he delivered, freezing Turco with a forehand fake and then scoring off a backhand move. After Buffalo's Ryan Miller stopped Mark Parrish, Pominville scored off the wrist shot to give Buffalo the win.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Sabres and gave them their fifth win in the last seven games.
"It was a gutsy win," said Miller, who had 21 saves in regulation and overtime and another five stops in the shootout. "You could see that hunger. The boys showed up. It was good to see."
There was a much different sentiment on the other side.
"It's an embarrassment and a joke," said Ott. "We came to the first period and we dominated. We knew the task at hand and it slipped. It's plain not good enough."
| First Period |
|
The Stars came out strong in the first period, outshooting the Sabres 12-5 and scoring on their only two power play chances to take a 2-0 lead after the first 20 minutes. Matt Niskanen scored on Dallas' first power play 10:44 into the game, getting to a puck in the slot and whipping a shot past Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller. A little less than four minutes later the Stars struck again on the power play. This time it was Steve Ott, who took a long pass from Mike Modano, broke in on net and slipped the puck between Miller's legs with a backhand shot. Score after first period: Dallas 2, Buffalo 0 |
| Second Period |
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The Stars extended their lead to 3-0 early in the second period. Just after their third power play expired a Trevor Daley shot from the point found its way through traffic and into the net. But the Sabres pushed back the rest of the period and ended up getting on the scoreboard by cashing in on their second power play of the game when Paul Gaustad deflected a Craig Rivet shot past Marty Turco at the 13:12 mark. The Sabres kept up the pressure, but the Stars came close to extending the lead with an odd-man rush only to have Mike Ribeiro's blast hit the post. Buffalo ended the period on the power play and had 1:17 of it carry over into the third period. Score after second period: Dallas 3, Buffalo 1 |
| Third Period |
|
The Sabres cut the lead to 3-2 early in the third
when Derek Roy set up Jochen Hecht in front of the net with a
spinning backhand pass and Hecht put the puck into the open side
of the net at the 3:01 mark.
Just 48 seconds later the Stars got their two-goal lead back when Brad Richards got to a loose puck and beat Miller with a wrist shot from the right circle. But the Sabres bounced back with two goals just 16 seconds apart midway through the period to tie the game. Gaustad scored from the top of the crease off a feed from Drew Stafford just as a penalty on Ribeiro expired made it a 4-3 game. Just 16 seconds later Clarke MacArthur tipped a Jaroslav Spacek point shot into the net and the game was tied at 4-4. Turco made some big saves late in the game to keep it a tie game, force overtime and get the Stars a point. Score after third period: Dallas 4, Buffalo 4 |
| Overtime |
|
The Sabres outshot the Stars 2-1 in overtime.
Turco had big saves on Roy and a shot that deflected off the
stick of Stars forward Toby Petersen.
Score after overtime: Dallas 4, Buffalo 4 |
| Shootout |
|
Dallas: Lehtinen |
| Official Scoresheet | Official Super Stats |
