The Buffalo Sabres played a great game and they were rewarded with a 3-2 shootout win against the Dallas Stars. It was one of those games when you felt like they were going to come out on the short end despite playing a really good hockey game.
Buffalo trailed 2-0 in the third period against a team that doesn’t give up the lead very often. Thomas Vanek deflected a beautiful pass from Jason Pominville to get Buffalo on the board on a rare power play opportunity. Dallas looked like they were going to run out the clock, but Derek Roy punched in a rebound after a nice faceoff win by Paul Gaustad with under a minute left in regulation.
Buffalo looked like they were going to win in overtime but Kari Lehtonen made a miraculous save with one second left. After the near miss in overtime there was a feeling it wasn’t meant to be for the Sabres but they eventually came through in the shootout to finish off a big win.
The Stats
Scoring Chances – after the jump
| Team | Period | Time | Note | BUF | Opponent | |||||||||||
| DAL | 1 | 17:02 | Vincour | 3 | 9 | 23 | 24 | 29 | 30 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 32 | 33 | 81 | 5v5 |
| BUF | 1 | 15:17 | Vanek | 3 | 8 | 24 | 26 | 30 | 37 | 11 | 16 | 23 | 28 | 32 | 36 | 5v5 |
| DAL | 1 | 11:35 | Dvorak | 3 | 8 | 10 | 22 | 26 | 30 | 2 | 6 | 20 | 24 | 32 | 38 | 5v5 |
| DAL | 1 | 10:06 | Benn | 9 | 10 | 23 | 29 | 30 | 57 | 3 | 14 | 29 | 32 | 33 | 81 | 5v5 |
| BUF | 1 | 7:09 | Ennis | 3 | 10 | 21 | 30 | 42 | 63 | 3 | 14 | 29 | 32 | 33 | 81 | 5v5 |
| BUF | 1 | 5:02 | Myers | 9 | 10 | 23 | 29 | 30 | 57 | 3 | 21 | 32 | 33 | 63 | 73 | 5v5 |
| DAL | 1 | 2:07 | Ryder Goal | 3 | 24 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 3 | 21 | 32 | 33 | 63 | 73 | 4v5 | |
| BUF | 1 | 0:39 | Pominvillle | 6 | 9 | 23 | 29 | 30 | 44 | 14 | 28 | 29 | 32 | 36 | 81 | 5v5 |
| BUF | 2 | 17:35 | Stafford | 3 | 9 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 30 | 2 | 6 | 21 | 29 | 32 | 5v4 | |
| BUF | 2 | 17:30 | Stafford | 3 | 9 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 30 | 2 | 6 | 21 | 29 | 32 | 5v4 | |
| BUF | 2 | 14:42 | Stafford | 6 | 10 | 21 | 30 | 42 | 63 | 3 | 11 | 16 | 23 | 32 | 33 | 5v5 |
| DAL | 2 | 13:06 | Vincour | 3 | 22 | 24 | 26 | 30 | 36 | 3 | 6 | 14 | 29 | 32 | 81 | 5v5 |
| DAL | 2 | 12:29 | Daley | 6 | 21 | 30 | 42 | 44 | 63 | 2 | 6 | 20 | 24 | 32 | 38 | 5v5 |
| BUF | 2 | 11:08 | Leopold | 3 | 9 | 23 | 24 | 29 | 30 | 11 | 16 | 23 | 28 | 32 | 36 | 5v5 |
| DAL | 2 | 9:10 | 6 | 24 | 28 | 30 | 36 | 6 | 14 | 23 | 29 | 32 | 36 | 4v5 | ||
| BUF | 2 | 4:48 | Ehrhoff | 3 | 9 | 10 | 23 | 29 | 30 | 14 | 28 | 29 | 32 | 36 | 81 | 5v5 |
| DAL | 2 | 3:28 | Robidas | 10 | 22 | 28 | 30 | 36 | 57 | 3 | 21 | 32 | 33 | 63 | 73 | 5v5 |
| BUF | 3 | 16:26 | Gaustad | 10 | 28 | 30 | 36 | 42 | 57 | 2 | 6 | 21 | 32 | 63 | 73 | 5v5 |
| DAL | 3 | 15:43 | Vincour Goal | 6 | 10 | 21 | 26 | 30 | 63 | 14 | 28 | 29 | 32 | 36 | 81 | 5v5 |
| BUF | 3 | 15:09 | Vanek | 10 | 26 | 29 | 30 | 57 | 63 | 3 | 16 | 24 | 28 | 32 | 5v4 | |
| BUF | 3 | 14:53 | Vanek Goal | 10 | 26 | 29 | 30 | 57 | 63 | 3 | 16 | 24 | 28 | 32 | 5v4 | |
| BUF | 3 | 0:39 | Roy Goal | 9 | 21 | 26 | 28 | 29 | 57 | 3 | 14 | 21 | 29 | 32 | 33 | 5v5 |
| BUF | 4 | 0:01 | Vanek | 9 | 10 | 26 | 30 | 57 | 3 | 14 | 29 | 32 | 33 | 4v4 | ||
| # | Player | EV | PP | SH | ||||||
| 3 | J. LEOPOLD | 18:24 | 4 | 3 | 0:44 | 2 | 0 | 3:22 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | M. WEBER | 17:08 | 2 | 2 | 0:10 | 0 | 0 | 1:08 | 0 | 1 |
| 8 | C. MCCORMICK | 4:15 | 1 | 1 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | D. ROY | 18:52 | 6 | 2 | 0:59 | 2 | 0 | 2:02 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | C. EHRHOFF | 22:25 | 6 | 4 | 1:29 | 2 | 0 | 2:08 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | D. STAFFORD | 14:59 | 3 | 2 | 1:09 | 2 | 0 | 0:02 | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | B. BOYES | 8:33 | 0 | 3 | 1:09 | 2 | 0 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | V. LEINO | 16:56 | 4 | 2 | 1:09 | 2 | 0 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | R. REGEHR | 15:15 | 2 | 2 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 | 3:57 | 0 | 2 |
| 26 | T. VANEK | 14:21 | 3 | 3 | 1:14 | 2 | 0 | 0:26 | 0 | 0 |
| 28 | P. GAUSTAD | 14:03 | 2 | 1 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 | 4:07 | 0 | 2 |
| 29 | J. POMINVILLE | 17:55 | 5 | 2 | 1:14 | 2 | 0 | 1:56 | 0 | 1 |
| 30 | R. MILLER | 55:28 | 9 | 7 | 2:23 | 4 | 0 | 6:38 | 0 | 2 |
| 36 | P. KALETA | 13:28 | 1 | 2 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 | 4:08 | 0 | 1 |
| 37 | M. ELLIS | 7:45 | 1 | 0 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 | 0:33 | 0 | 0 |
| 42 | N. GERBE | 15:44 | 3 | 1 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 | 0:00 | 0 | 0 |
| 44 | A. SEKERA | 18:14 | 1 | 1 | 0:10 | 0 | 0 | 0:33 | 0 | 0 |
| 57 | T. MYERS | 20:50 | 4 | 2 | 1:14 | 2 | 0 | 2:08 | 0 | 0 |
| 63 | T. ENNIS | 16:19 | 2 | 2 | 1:14 | 2 | 0 | 0:02 | 0 | 0 |
| Period | Totals | EV | PP | 5v3 PP | SH | 5v3 SH | ||||||
| 1 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 14 | 9 | 10 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
Head-to-Head Scoring Chances
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