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Power Play Reigns Supreme as Dallas Beats Buffalo 5-4 in Comeback Victory

Posted on by Tyler Mair

It wasn’t pretty, but the Dallas Stars managed to snap their losing streak with a 5-4 win over the Buffalo Sabres, thanks to Jason Robertson, Tyler Seguin, and Mark Pysyk.

The Stars fell in an early hole as Rasmus Dahlin and Jack Quinn scored within the first few minutes. However, Robertson, fresh back from injury, would cut the deficit in half later in the period with the Stars’ first power play goal of the evening. The second started similarly, as Dylan Cozens scored on a breakaway to re-extend the Sabres’ lead, but Roope Hintz answered back, once more on the power play.

Tyler Seguin briefly tied things up with a garbage goal that bounced off Pysyk, but Alex Tuch reclaimed the lead only a few minutes later. In the third, Seguin would tie the game again with a third power play goal, and Robertson would later complete the comeback with a fourth power play goal.

The Stars ended up going 4/5 with the man advantage compared to Buffalo’s 1/3, which ended up being the difference maker. It was too close for comfort, especially given how the Stars, once again, vastly outshot their opponent, but a win’s a win.

Dallas doesn’t have much time for rest, as their road trip continues tomorrow against the Detroit Red Wings. Puck drops at 6:30 CT.

First Period

The Stars wasted no time getting into a deficit, essentially getting out of Rasmus Dahlin’s way so that he could effortless skate up to Braden Holtby and slip one past him less than three minutes into the game. A couple minutes later, Jani Hankanpaa went to the box for cross checking Mark Jankowski, and Buffalo immediately made Dallas pay as Jack Quinn notched his first NHL goal, bar-down.

There was little action either way for the next ten minutes or so, at which point Robert Hagg was sent to the box for hooking Luke Glendening. This time, it was Dallas who would quickly capitalize, as Stars sleeper agent Mark Pysyk turned the puck over to Jason Robertson, who sniped the puck into the top left corner:

That’s when things started to pick up a bit more for Dallas. Tyler Seguin would get a scoring opportunity, as well as Robertson again when he hit the post on a 3-on-2 rush. But the Stars failed to tie things up, heading to the locker room down by one.

Score: Dallas 1, Buffalo 2
Shots: Dallas 13, Buffalo 10

Second Period

Once again, the Stars wasted no time in getting scored on, as Buffalo somehow created an odd-man rush, leading to a Dylan Cozens breakaway and the Sabres’ third goal of the night. Thankfully, Pysyk came to the Stars’ rescue once again, taking a slashing penalty against Roope Hintz, who proceeded to score on the ensuing power play:

Dallas continued to put pressure on Aaron Dell to try and tie the game. Ultimately, they were successful in the most unlikely of ways as a Denis Gurianov clearing (or was it an intentional pass up the ice?) found its way to Seguin, who shot the puck from the corner, which then bounced off of — you guessed it — Mark Pysyk and into the net:

Of course, Dallas can’t have nice things — only a couple minutes later, Alex Tuch sniped one past Holtby from the top of the faceoff circle while casually coasting into the offensive zone. Rasmus Dahlin would soon head to the box for a delay of game, but for the first time Dallas failed to convert on the power play.

The Sabres got their own man advantage when Esa Lindell tripped Jeff Skinner, but also failed to score. Without roughly 30 seconds left in the period, Dallas then took a too-many-men bench minor, ensuring Buffalo would start the third on the power play.

Score: Dallas 3, Buffalo 4
Shots: Dallas 34, Buffalo 18

Third Period

Dallas successfully killed off the remainder of the penalty without a single shot on net. What followed was a whole lot of nothing as Buffalo didn’t really try to put the puck on net anymore, and, honestly, neither did Dallas. The two continuously turned over the puck to one another, so much so that you could be excused for thinking you were watching a game of ping pong instead of hockey.

The Stars’ best chances came with roughly eight and a half minutes left, including a wrap-around by Michael Raffl that was stopped only by a diving Dahlin’s stick. Dallas would soon get another power play opportunity as Cody Eakin got called for slashing, and Seguin scored his second of the night to tie things up:

Note: While he was not at fault for the goal against, Mark Pysyk was on the ice.

A few minutes later, Rasmus Asplund tripped Jacob Peterson, giving Dallas the chance to take the lead. And sure enough, Jason Robertson earned his second of the night in what was, sadly, a Pysyk-less goal:

That would be enough to complete the comeback — the Sabres pulled Dell for the extra attacker with a couple minutes left, but neither team found twine again.

Final Score: Dallas 5, Buffalo 4
Final Shots: Dallas 47, Buffalo 24

Mood:

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