Game Recap: Seguin & Robertson Lead Stars To Bumpy Win In Buffalo

Well, it was not pretty, but the Dallas Stars broke a seven-game road losing streak on Thursday night with a 5-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres.

The Stars erased two different two-goal deficits in the game before finally finding their first lead late in the third period.

Things started off poorly once again for Dallas, as the Sabres tallied two goals in the first 6:37 of the game. Rasmus Dahlin began the scoring when he beat Joel Kiviranta to the front of the net, followed by the first career NHL goal for Jack Quinn on the power play a few minutes later.

"Something you kind of dream about," Quinn said. "So, it was pretty special to see it go in and it was exciting to celebrate with my teammates there."

Nearing the end of the first period, and with the Stars on the power play, Jason Robertson ripped a shot with the puck in his feet over the shoulder of goaltender Aaron Dell, scoring in his return after missing the last two games with a lower-body injury.

Robertson added another beautiful goal, the eventual game-winner in the third period, and an assist to finish with three points on the night. John Klingberg also racked up three assists while Tyler Seguin equaled their performance with his first multi-goal game of the season. Seguin and his line were dominant in the game as he looks to be turning the corner following his hip and knee surgeries last year.

“He is skating really well,” Rick Bowness said. “And that’s why I put him back at center tonight. I noticed last game that he was skating really well and when he is skating like that, you can just see the jump is there. He had an outstanding game for us tonight clearly. I know you know the goal and the power-play goal but he did a lot of really good things. He was really engaged physically tonight. That’s his best game of the year by far.”

Both Seguin and Robertson scored on the power play, which went 4 for 5 in the game. After coming up empty on their last 15 opportunities on the road, the 80% success rate against Buffalo should provide a ton of confidence moving forward on the current road trip.

The other side of special teams remains a concern for Dallas. They allowed a power-play goal against for the 10th game in their last 11. Buffalo went 1 for 3 overall, with their power-play goal coming just seconds into the first opportunity.

The Hockey Writers: Stars Road Record Remains Among Leagues Worst

While Braden Holtby only made 20 stops on 24 Sabres shots, he was able to make the key save when his team broke down. As they did against Montreal on Tuesday, the Stars made a few costly mistakes up the ice. While they ended up in their net early, Holtby responded, making multiple saves in the final two periods to keep the score within reach.

“If you are going to win, your goaltender has to make some saves,” he does, “Bowness said. “Their goaltender kept them in the game and when we did have some breakdowns, Holts made some great saves for us. The goals tonight, you can’t blame him on. A couple of them went off of sticks, that’s hockey. But he made the saves when we needed him to make the big save.”

The win is a huge weight off the shoulders for Dallas. They began their road trip with two points and will now face the Detroit Red Wings tomorrow in the first of two back-to-back sets.

“We gotta turn it around at some point here, don’t really care who we are playing. Tyler Seguin said. “Obviously, there was a lot of stuff we didn’t like tonight but we are happy to get a win. We gotta start somewhere, started tonight.”