Buffalo crushed by Stars, 7-1

It was a game that many Sabres fans probably turned off rather quickly. Buffalo was massively outplayed by the Dallas Stars in a 7-1 loss on Saturday afternoon at KeyBank Center.

The Sabres have given up seven goals twice in the last four games, both coming on home ice.

Many players verbalized their disappointment after the game, but too often their actions don’t back up their words.

“We should take examples of the way they compete, the way they play. The way they play is impeccable. They were tough, held on to pucks and made us look bad.” – Jason Pominville

“It shouldn’t be a hard thing to come to work and work.” – Kyle Okposo

The Stars scored four times in the second period, knocking Robin Lehner out of the game after he allowed four goals on 19 shots.

Lehner has had much success on home ice, entering the game with a 2.17 GAA and .930 save percentage at KeyBank Center. None of that mattered in this one nor the last time these two teams met.

On November 4th, Lehner allowed three quick goals on seven shots in the game’s first 10 minutes as the Stars chased him out of net.

On Saturday, Chad Johnson came in to try and stop the bleeding, but the Stars were relentless, adding two more before taking a 6-1 lead into the third period. Johnson made 10 saves on 13 shots.

Sam Reinhart scored Buffalo’s lone goal as he knocked home a rebound on the power play. It was his eighth of the season, with Jack Eichel and Rasmus Ristolainen earning the assists. The assist was Ristolainen’s 100th of his NHL career.

For Dallas, Mattias Janmark scored two goals, while Remi Elie, Jamie Benn, Esa Lindell, Radek Faska and Tyler Pitlick all added one of their own.

John Klingberg, one of the NHL’s best defensmen this seaon, has six assists in the two games against Buffalo.

Besides the goal, the Sabres didn’t have many bright spots. Jordan Nolan did drop the gloves with Dillon Heatherington and landed a few quality punches.

The Sabres will head out west as they embark on a three-game road trip. They’ll take on the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks next week. Each game has a start time of 9 p.m. EST or later.