Sabres Kick Off Road Trip with Big Win in Dallas

Owen Power scores first goal of the season as Buffalo carries three-game win streak into next game against St. Louis

Score: Sabres 3 | Stars 2

Shots: BUF 25 | DAL 31

Buffalo Sabres Goals: Rasmus Dahlin (14), Victor Olofsson (22), Owen Power (1-OT)

Dallas Stars Goals: Jamie Benn (19-PP), Jason Robertson (32)

Plus-1: Dahlin is Just…So Good

It did not take long for Dallas to score (while on the power-play following a high sticking penalty served by Tage Thompson) and the score read 1-0 in favor of the home team in the opening two minutes of the game. However, Rasmus Dahlin made sure to respond just over halfway through the first period with his wicked slapshot from the top of the Stars’ offensive zone.

The lefthanded defenseman now has 14 goals on the season – a career high – and has tied his point total from last season with 53(!).

Dahlin is now the top scorer for the Sabres since January 7 with 14 points in 10 games.

Just a reminder…it is still January.

Plus-2: Goalofsson Snags the Lead

Already such a far cry from the last two seasons, Victor Olofsson has been on a scoring tear lately (a four-game goal streak including Monday, to be exact) and his goal here was definitely a thing of beauty. Wowza.

Thompson began the play with a quick breakout from the Buffalo zone with a quick drop to Jeff Skinner whose pass to Olofsson helped seal the deal. Without hesitating, “Goalofsson” let one rip from his favorite spot: glove-side past sprawling Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger.

Olosson now has the highest shooting percentage on the team at 20.4% (also higher than Connor McDavid at the moment…no big deal) as well as five goals in his last four games. It sure has been fun to watch him grow this season.

Minus-1: That Lead Did Not Last Long

Following some scoring troubles, Dallas jumbled their lines up a bit to see if it would spark some offensive pressure. Well, it did almost immediately. Four Sabres were caught trying to clear the puck behind Craig Anderson, which left a wide open Jason Robertson directly in front of the net to even up the score six minutes into the final period. Robertson has now tied Tage Thompson on 32 goals scored this season, tied third behind McDavid on 40 and David Pastrnak on 36.

Plus-3: Power’s First!

Overtime seems to be a 2023 trend for the Sabres and Monday was no different. This overtime, however, ended differently than the others with Owen Power’s first goal of the season and third of his career. Before he scored, the defenseman dinged one off the post, but teammates Thompson and Alex Tuch helped to keep it in the Stars’ zone. Power made his way to the other side of the net to bury his first of the season thanks to a very smooth pass from Thompson. Not to get all mushy here, but if you caught his reaction, it was really heartwarming as the whole team joined him on the ice to celebrate.

Final Thoughts

This was a good win for the Sabres; they seem to have found momentum as the second half of the season moves along. Their power play needs some improvement – they went 0-for-3 – and the second period was a bit of a snoozefest, but overall they looked pretty solid against the number one team in the Central Division. Craig Anderson deserves a lot of credit, too, as the Stars could have easily stolen the game by a few goals. Their next matchup on this road trip is against the St. Louis Blues, who are 6-4-0 in their last 10. Puck drop on Tuesday night is at 8:00 PM EST.

Three Stars:

1. Craig Anderson (29 saves)

2. Joe Pavelski (2 A)

3. Rasmus Dahlin (1 G, +2)