The Dallas Stars continued their winning ways and used the NHL's challenge system to do it. The Stars defeated the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 at First Niagara Center on Tuesday for their seventh win in eight games.
The Sabres appeared to tie the game 2-2 with 6:15 left when Sam Reinhart put a wrist shot past goalie Antti Niemi, but Stars coach Lindy Ruff challenged that the play was offside. Video review confirmed that Sabres forward Tyler Ennis crossed the blue line ahead of the puck and the goal was disallowed. The Sabres were on a power play at the time because of a delay of game penalty to Stars defenseman Alex Goligoski. The Stars killed the penalty and the Sabres didn't get another good chance to score.
The Sabres got within 2-1 when Ryan O'Reilly scored a power-play goal with 6:57 left in the third. He received a pass from Cody Franson and took a slap shot that beat Niemi through the five-hole for his sixth goal of the season. Niemi was screened by Reinhart. The Sabres were on the power play because of a cross-checking call against Stars captain Jamie Benn. Jason Spezza gave the Stars a 2-0 lead 7:35 into the third period with his seventh goal of the season. Spezza tipped a shot from Goligoski past Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark to the glove side.
Goligoski was open in the slot after Sabres forward Tim Schaller, who played in place of injured forward Zemgus Girgensons, missed a check against Spezza at the blue line. Spezza passed to Janmark and drove to the front of the net. Janmark then found Goligoski alone in the slot. Tyler Seguin scored an empty-net goal with 1:27 left, his 10th goal of the season.
The Stars have won six of the past seven games and have the best record in the Western Conference. The Sabres have lost two in a row.
The Stars attempted 60 shots to the Sabres' 52. Dallas came in averaging 3.6 goals per game. Valeri Nichushkin gave the Stars a 1-0 lead 51 seconds into the game. His second goal of the season came when he deked and put a backhand past Ullmark. Niemi made 24 saves; Ullmark made 26.
Zach Bogosian played 21:03 in his first game of the season. He missed most of training camp and the regular season with a lower-body injury. Stars forward Patrick Eaves played 12:22 in his first game since Oct. 13. He missed 13 with a lower-body injury.
Stars Quotes
Lindy Ruff: "People were yelling 'Offside!' right away on the entry, and then the mechanics, our assistant coach is right in our video guy Kelly Forbes' ear, and Kelly came back to him and said it's offside. So instantly, probably within five seconds, Kelly had it nailed. He's really been working hard. I'm happy for him because it was a struggle the first 2-3 weeks and he was a pretty frustrated young man. Now he's got a smile on his face and he's been working real hard. I thought it was one of [Spezza's] best games. I thought he skated well. That line was real good. I thought, again, they were in 3-4 opportunities and did a real nice job."Antti Niemi: "[The Review is] mentally tough. It's new. You feel kind of lucky after that, even if it was a fair call, but it felt like a second chance. It's got to be really tough for them because they get pumped they are tying the game … I think it [the review] is easier from my side than for them."
Jamie Benn: "Just a stupid penalty at a really important time in the game. Just a bad hockey penalty, and I can't be putting my team in that situation that late in the game. We need to be comfortable in those situations where we can't get frustrated that there's nothing going on. Be happy with a one-goal lead, and be satisfied with a boring two points we get in the end."
Alex Goligoski: "Spezza and Janmark made a couple great little plays through their defense to let someone else get in the play. [Janmark] made a great pass and it was a nice goal."
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