DALLAS — You could almost forgive the Dallas Stars.
After consecutive 4-0 shutout wins and taking an early lead Monday night against the Buffalo Sabres at American Airlines Center, they seemed to put it in cruise control.
Goals, shutouts, and wins have come relatively easy and often for the Stars, and with a goal less than two minutes into Monday’s game, more of the same appeared inevitable.
The Sabres had other plans.
Owen Power scored his first goal of the season 56 seconds into OT to cap the Sabres’ 3-2 comeback win.
Victor Oloffson’s goal in transition gave the Sabres their first lead early in the third period.
It may have awoken the Stars just in time after sleep-skating for much of the previous two periods.
Dallas’ leading scorer Jason Robertson tied it at 2-2 four minutes later on an assist from Joe Pavelski.
The Stars’ defense came up big late in regulation, killing a penalty taken with three minutes left in regulation of a tie game,
Jamie Benn’s power-play goal 1:48 into the game gave the Stars a quick 1-0 lead. It’s Benn’s team-high 10th power-play goal and came off an assist from Roope Hintz, who returned to the ice after missing seven games with an upper-body injury. Hintz was injured during a game on Jan. 8.
The Stars kept the pressure on goaltender Craig Anderson for the first 10 minutes, outshooting the Sabres 10-1 in the process.
But something clicked for Buffalo in the second half of the period, and Rasmus Dahlin’s goal tied it at 1-1 with 9:30 remaining in the period. The goal seemed to wake up Buffalo, which hadn’t registered its first shot on goal until nearly 10 minutes had passed.
Dahlin’s goal came moments after a face-off and instigated a reversal in shots on goal for the remainder of the period. The Stars’ defense killed two penalties in the period, but the Sabres outshot the Stars 8 to 4 in the final 10 minutes of the period.
That continued into the scoreless period, as the Sabres held an 8-7 shots-on-goal advantage.
Took It On the Chin: Referee Furman South took a stick to the face less than a minute into the second period, and play was briefly stopped. Sabres forward Peyton Krebs high-sticked Furman’s chin behind the Stars’ net. Furman was bleeding and had to be bandaged up before returning. Play resumed with on referee and two linesmen until Furman was back on the ice minutes later.
