The Dallas Stars didn’t just beat the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday - they controlled the night from start to finish and walked away with a 4-0 shutout that looked every bit as polished as the final score suggested.
Jake Oettinger was the backbone again, stopping all 26 shots he saw for his second straight shutout. In front of him, Mikko Rantanen and Wyatt Johnston delivered breakout performances, Sam Steel scored his first goal of the season, and Thomas Harley picked up his first point of the year with the primary assist.
Beyond the headline numbers, the film pointed to three things that stood out in a game where Dallas looked nearly flawless.
Dallas finally got its power play going, and it didn’t take long. The Stars had come in without a power-play goal on eight chances this season, but that changed when the top unit started creating pressure almost every time it touched the puck. Dallas kept possession for long stretches in the offensive zone and turned the Sabres around with quick breaks that forced Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen into breakaway saves.
The goal came after Johnston drew a defender toward him and slipped a backhand drop pass to Roope Hintz, who was alone in the slot and buried the shot for Dallas’ first power-play goal of the season.
The penalty kill was just as sharp. Buffalo got three power plays and never found a goal, with only one of those advantages producing chances that really tested Oettinger. Radek Faksa and Oskar Bäck were especially effective together, cutting off passing lanes, intercepting pucks and clearing them out before the Sabres could settle in.
Jamie Benn also handled his spot on the top line with Hintz and Jason Robertson. At 37, the Dallas captain looked comfortable in that role, logging seven shifts in the first period and making clean passes while winning loose pucks.
His ice time dropped to three shifts in the second, but he still set up a Hintz chance with a drop pass. He was back to seven shifts in the third, where he picked off a pass in the offensive zone and fed Robertson for a one-timer that Luukkonen stopped.
Benn didn’t record a point, but he was noticeable throughout the night and held his own on that star-heavy unit.
The fourth line made its mark, too. Colin Blackwell is stepping in for the foreseeable future with Joel Kiviranta out, and he worked well with Faksa and Bäck.
That group generated multiple chances in the first and third periods while skating 12 to 14 minutes. Their best look came in the third, when Luukkonen was out of his crease and Bäck had what looked like an open net, only for the shot to be denied.
Even without a goal, the line left a strong impression and gave Dallas another encouraging look from the bottom six.
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