*Photo from the Dallas Morning News*
Games like this one are called statements. Jamie Benn had a goal and two assists, Jason Robertson had 3 assists, and the Dallas Stars trounced the Buffalo Sabres with a 10-4 victory on Thursday night in Buffalo.
The Stars picked up their 5th win in 7 games with the 6 goal victory, getting a win to start a 6 game road trip. 16 of the 18 Stars skaters registered at least one point, with Benn and Robertson having 3 point games to go with Evgenii Dadonov posting a goal and an assist.
Benn said of the road trip opening win that "You always want to win the first one. And we've got, obviously, a big road trip here. Some good teams ahead of us. We're going to need guys to step up now that we might have lost one guy. So it's going to be a big trip for us and it's a good start."
Wyatt Johnston got the Stars on the board 7:06 into the game on his 16th goal of the season. Both teams then combined for 3 goals in the final minute of the period. Benn and Joe Pavelski provided the goals for the Stars, with Pavelski's coming on the power play. Jordan Greenway then scored for the Sabres to make it 3-1 after one period.
At the 8:37 mark of the second period, Joel Kiviranta extended the Stars lead to 4-1, scoring his 7th goal of the season. Kyle Okposo then cut the deficit back to two goals, making it 4-2 with Ilya Lyubushkin and JJ Peterka assisting. It was 5-2 Stars after the second period thanks to Ryan Suter's second goal of the season.
Jeff Skinner scored 3:49 into the 3rd period for the Sabres to cut the deficit to 5-3. The Stars then scored 4 straight goals, with Dadonov and Roope Hintz scoring to go with two goals from Radek Faksa. Victor Olofsson answered for the Sabres to make it 9-4 before Mason Marchment scored for the Stars to make it a 10-4 final.
Dallas head coach Pete Deboer said of the 10 goal game that "I think it's been coming. I think we've been creating some offense and scoring some goals lately. I think it's just guys playing with more confidence. Pavelski got his first in a while the other night. Mush did too. Guys are building off of that."
Getting the start for the Stars was Jake Oettinger, who had a solid showing in net to pick up the win. Oettinger stopped 25 of the 29 shots the Sabres sent at him, which was good for a .862 save percentage. His record now stands at 27-9-10 this season.
Eric Comrie got the start for the Sabres, getting hung out to dry as he fell to 8-9-0 in 17 starts on the season. Comrie was only able to save 39 out of the 49 shots on goal the Stars had, mustering a .796 save percentage.
Okposo, the Sabres captain, said of Comrie allowing 10 goals that "We absolutely hung him out to dry and that can't happen. That's something you learn when you're 8 years old, you don't hang your goalie out to dry and we did that tonight. Uncharacteristic of our group, but something that's going to be discussed."
Both teams get back in action on Saturday. The Sabres play first with an afternoon home game against the New York Rangers, with Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen expected to start. Oettinger is lined up to start for the Stars against the Seattle Kraken.
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