They were 0-8-1 in the second night of back to backs this season. They hadn't won a game in Buffalo since 1999 (where Brett Hull famously stepped in the crease and scored a legit goal to win the Stanley Cup in game six of the series.) They were 16-0-0 when leading after two periods. Would any of these streaks end tonight?

The Dallas Stars started the game off with several good defensive plays by Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson in close to the goal to keep shots from getting to Kari Lehtonen. When they did get through, the big Finn shut down all chances in tight, and his glove hand was up for first star of the game from Razor Reaugh. Alex Goligoski would fire a shot from the point on the powerplay and receive a tip in front from Michael Ryder to score his 20th goal of the season. The Stars did not allow much in the first frame to get to Lehtonen.

Enter the second frame, where the Stars have played their worst period of hockey in general this season with a lot more goals scored against than for. Tonight, the Stars played probably their best second frame that we've seen in a while. They had a great "pack mentality" on defense. They were boxing Sabres players out of the front of the net, they were getting good backchecking from the forwards on the ice, and Lehtonen showed why he deserves to be in the elite goaltenders in the league discussion. Lehtonen absolutely stoned Drew Stafford on several prime scoring chances for the Sabres forward, who even appeared to be having conversations with his stick because he couldn't beat Lehtonen. It wasn't so much the number of saves Lehtonen made in the middle period as much as it was him coming up with the big save at the big times to not allow Buffalo to get any momentum going.

The Stars took their 1-0 lead into the third, and because they can't seem to make things easy on themselves and always like to keep it interesting, it was quite a crazy third period. Tomas Vincour would score his second goal of the season, and less than a minute later Thomas Vanek would cut the lead to one. The rest of the period was a crazy back and forth, north south game, trading scoring chances and seeing which goaltender would give first. Lehtonen would blink first, and Buffalo's Derek Roy scored with the extra attacker with less than a minute left in the third period. The extra time saw another save of the year candidate when Lehtonen stops Vanek with a pad save to send it to the shootout.

The Stars went with Eriksson in the shootout first, and he was poke checked by Ryan Miller and simply lost the puck and didn't even get a shot off. Benn went second, swung out wide, went blocker side and beat Miller handily. To end the skills competition, Mike Ribeiro gets up to try to win it and Miller stayed with him to make the save. Vincour with his first shootout attempt and couldn't elevate enough to score. Ryder would miss and the Sabres would win in the shootout. Buffalo had Brad Boyes score, then Lehtonen stoned Jason Pominville. Vanek hit the crossbar and the puck never crossed the line to extend the shootout to sudden death. Ennis wouldn't score but Gerbe beat Lehtonen with a backhand to win it for Buffalo.

Tonight, the 16-0-0 record would become 16-0-1. They still haven't won a game in Buffalo since the Stanley Cup winner. They still haven't won on the second night of a back to back and are now 0-8-2 in those situations. The effort and fight was some of the best seen on a second night of back to backs this year. They might not have gotten the full two points, but tonight they should be happy with the overall effort and getting three of four points on the road. They deserved a better fate on the game tonight than they got.

Dallas Stars @ Buffalo Sabres

Friday, February 10th, 2012 - 6:30pm CST

First Niagara Center

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Buffalo.

Buffalo.

The Texas Tornado (28-12-6, 62 pts, T-2 South) had a daunting 3-games-in-3-days this past weekend and were able to take two of three from the Wichita Falls Wildcats. The Thursday and Friday games were played in Frisco, with the Tornado dropping the third game in Wichita Falls on Saturday evening.

More on the Tornado after the jump...

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Glen Gulutzan announced after last night's win against the Columbus Blue Jackets that backup Richard Bachman would get the start tonight in Buffalo. Despite the team's struggles on the second night of back-to-back games, the decision made sense considering the Stars have a big game coming up against the Kings on Sunday. It's logical that the Stars would play Bachman against Buffalo and rest Lehtonen for a game against a team they are competing directly with for playoff positioning.

Early this morning, however, Darryl Reaugh hinted that it was going to be Kari Lehtonen in net tonight instead. We were skeptical, since Gulutzan has clearly made it known the team was going with Bachman. Who are we to second guess Razor, as it turns out the brilliant analyst was indeed correct.

Word coming from morning skate up in Buffalo is that Kari Lehtonen will be back in net tonight against the Sabres. According to Glen Gulutzan (via Mike Heika), Lehtonen was feeling a bit under the weather last night but is good to go today. Hence the change.

``He was feeling a little sick there, and we thought (Bachman) would be the best decision here, but we've talked to him, and he's over it and 100 percent healthy and ready to go,'' Gulutzan said.

While playing Lehtonen in back to back games is risky -- and there's a big game looming on Sunday -- I think I can understand the reasoning behind this decision, even if it was apparently tied to his not feeling well after the game last night.

Find out why after the jump. We also have a brilliant game preview video by Razor.

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One subject that everyone seems to ask me about lately is Jamie Benn, and how exactly he stacks up to Mike Modano. I've been asked if it's fair to compare the two, if I think Benn can fill the shoes, and if I think Benn could put up the same kind of numbers over his career. These are all different wants of asking the same questions, really, and the answer isn't exactly as cut and dry as most would hope.

Before comparing the two players, it's best to answer if indeed it is fair to do so. The way I look at it, all is fair in sports fandom. It simply comes with the territory. Jamie Benn isn't the first athlete to be scrutinized and compared to the ghosts of franchise history. It's simply human nature to try and compare someone new to someone you're already familiar with. It happens in all sports at every level.

Sidney Crosby, Eric Lindros, and Alexandre Daigle were all the next Wayne Gretzky at one point in time. Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and Lebron James were all the next Michael Jordan. Steve Young had to live up to Joe Montana's legend, and Aaron Rodgers had to fill Brett Favre's shoes. I'm sure the young stud quarterback for your local high school football team is still compared to the great athletes that led your alma mater to State in the 1980's. It's silly, but it's a fair topic of discussion, simply because that's what fans do.

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The Dallas Stars started their post-All Star break off with a big win over the Ducks. Then there was a loss to the Sharks. A shootout win over the Wild followed, but a disappointing effort against the Coyotes brought everything back down again. So when they beat the Columbus Blue Jackets last night, they weren't really that impressed.

"We have to get on a roll. We cant do this, win one, lose one. We have to get on a roll," said Trevor Daley.

The first step was: Beat Columbus. Check, check. The next step is the hard one, and it's one the Stars have just been utterly unable to take this year. We've beat it to death over and over again and yet it must be said once more: They are 0-8-1 on the second night of a back to back.

Last night's blueprint would seem a good one to follow: Get off to a fast start. The Stars took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission and would go up 3-0 on a Stephane Robidas tally in the second period before adversity struck in the form of penalty trouble. The final period was a nail-biter but the quick start made it all possible. Taking the crowd out of it early (a crowd that doesn't like the Dallas Stars much) would be a good beginning to finally putting together a little streak and breaking the back-to-back curse.

Buffalo has not been a kind destination to the Dallas Stars. The last time the Stars won a regular season game there was in the 1997-1998 season. They've visited just twice since the lockout, losing both, of course. The last time they were victorious there in any form was the night that Brett Hull kicked the puck to himself, entered the crease legally, in full control of that puck, and won the Stars' first Stanley Cup. You might remember it.

Their last visit was a 5-3 loss in March of 2010, part of the post-Olympic swoon that saw that team miss the playoffs. Marty Turco took the loss that day stopping 38 shots. Richard Bachman will be the one tested this time around.

More on each team after the jump...

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The Dallas Stars selection of goalie Jack Campbell in the first round of the 2010 draft remains controversial among some fans.

All you have to do is mention Campbell's name to get some people on a rant about selecting a goalie in the first round and passing up the opportunity to draft Cam Fowler.

And while Campbell hasn't lit the world on fire with his play in juniors, at least one person isn't worried about him at this point. Justin Goldman, who describes himself as an independent pro goalie scout and runs The Goalie Guild, had a lengthy interview with Jonathan Willis of the Edmonton Journal for a blog that ran Thursday.

The first part of the blog is about prospect Andrei Vasilevski, who is eligible for the 2012 draft. But about halfway through, it flips over to a discussion about Campbell. Here's a sampling of what Goldman has to say about the Stars prospect.

From my perspective, statistics and game-to-game performances in the OHL isn’t the focus. All that matters to me is how much he learns, and how much he experiences during his time in juniors. I’d rather him face adversity, learn what it’s like to lose, what it takes to win, how to work harder than everyone else on the ice, and essentially, just mature as a goalie and a human being.

After the jump, more on the Stars 4-2 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets and today's game against the Buffalo Sabres, another player joins Twitter and a decent night for scoreboard watching if you were a Stars fan.

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