The Stars are beginning to look like a team that’s learning how to stack good nights on top of each other.
Dallas followed Monday’s 5-0 win over San Jose with a 4-0 shutout of Buffalo on Thursday, and coach Glen Gulutzan liked this one even more.
“I thought tonight we were even better than the last game,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “I thought we were good against a really good hockey team.”
The Sabres pushed back harder than the Sharks did. Buffalo held a 26-18 edge in shots on goal and a 63-39 advantage in shot attempts, but Jake Oettinger was locked in again. He posted his second straight shutout after stopping 13 shots against San Jose, and Dallas did just enough to keep the night clean all the way through.
The Stars built the win early and kept control long enough to make the third period manageable. Mikko Rantanen and Jason Robertson connected on a sharp rush up the right side, and Robertson buried his second goal of the season midway through the first period. In the second, Sam Steel, Rantanen and Roope Hintz all scored to stretch the lead to 4-0.
A thing of beauty 🤌 pic.twitter.com/sVPKqYw7Cl
- Dallas Stars (@DallasStars) October 8, 2026
Steel’s goal stood out for more than just the finish. He’s lining up on a top line with Rantanen and Wyatt Johnston, and with the salary cap squeezing the roster and Matt Duchene out injured, players like Steel, Justin Hryckowian and Jamie Benn are getting bigger opportunities. So far, they’ve been making the most of them.
“Guys like me, we can bounce around the lineup and play with whoever we play with and then complement whoever you’re playing with,” said Steel, who has a goal and an assist in 14:26 time on ice per game. “There are a lot of good players on this team and we’re all just going to go out and do our job.”
Gulutzan pointed to Rantanen, Johnston, Hintz and Robertson for the production they’ve delivered, but he also stressed that Thursday was a full-team effort.
“Those four can do big things, but I like the game all of our guys are giving us right now,” Gulutzan said. “Our D has been moving the puck great and our forwards are connected. We just need to keep stacking.”
That idea has become part of the rhythm here: keep building one good shift, one good practice and one good game at a time. It matters even more in an 84-game season, where the work has to keep feeding the results.
“We’re just trying to play hockey and not think too much,” Hintz said. “We’re trying to play quick hockey.”
That hasn’t always been easy. Dallas opened the season with back-to-back losses and just one goal, but the response has been sharp since then as the team and staff have adjusted.
The power play finally delivered too, with Rantanen, Johnston and Hintz combining on crisp passing to finish a goal that came at a key moment as Buffalo was trying to settle in. Gulutzan said the timing mattered as much as the finish.
“A lot of times specialty teams is not how many you score, it’s when you score,” Gulutzan said. “We got big kills and then we got a goal that hurt them a lot.”
Even with the shutout in hand, Gulutzan wasn’t thrilled with the third period, when Dallas sat back more than he wanted.
“There was some score effect that came into that third, but it’s a room-for-growth process,” Gulutzan said. “We sat back. I don’t think we can have that mentality anymore, we want to change that.”
Still, the bigger picture looked strong. The Stars got another clean sheet from Oettinger, another big night from their top skill players and another game where the supporting cast helped drive the result.
“It’s nice to put up what we put up, but it’s even better knowing that we are defending well and that offense isn’t coming from forcing things,” Steel said. “We’re doing this right.”
In Other News...
Stars Just Saw The Sabres Problem That Could Haunt Buffalo
The view from Dallas on Tuesday offered a reminder of how quickly a shaky start in net can shape a season. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen has opened with three straight outings allowing three or more goals, and Buffalos early issues have shown up in the numbers, too: a 4.02 goals-against average and a .782 save percentage. Some of the damage has come with the defense leaving him exposed, but the overall picture has been hard to ignore for a Sabres team trying to stay in the mix in a tough division.
Luukkonens underlying results have only deepened the concern for Buffalo, which needs steadier play from its No. 1 goalie if it wants to keep pace. The Sabres can point to breakdowns in front of him, but the wider analytics view suggests the problems go beyond a few bad bounces or one sloppy night. For a team already leaning on him to provide stability, this is the sort of early stretch that can linger if it does not turn quickly. [Read more 🡒]