Stars down Sabres, 3-2, hold lead steady in Central Dallas hold lead at five over Avs, Sabres eliminated from race

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In Dallas, the Stars’ Wyatt Johnson scored at 3:38 of the middle frame to tie the visiting Buffalo Sabres, 2-2.

Joe Pavelski scored three and half minutes later to give Dallas a 3-2 lead they protected for the win on Tuesday night.

Jake Oettinger made 19 saves in the win.

Dallas improved to 50-20-9 off their 18th win in 18 games.

“They’re a dangerous team when you start turning the puck over a little bit, which we got into that trouble a little bit here and there. As the game went on, we got better,” Pavelski said. “When there was a breakdown or something there, it felt like somebody was in the area helping out, supporting. The support was pretty good, I think. The commitment seems to be there. That’s No. 1 for us right now, the commitment. Throw some details in there and you’re putting together a pretty good stretch of hockey.”

Dallas are five points clear of the Colorado Avalanche for first in the Central Division.

Alex Tuch  staked the Sabres to a 1-0 lead at at 4:09 of the opening stanza, scoring off a tip in of a shot form the point.

Dallas replied with a marker from Jason Robertson at 6:15, tying it, 1-1, on a tip in of his own.

“They are exceptional at [deflecting pucks], as you saw tonight,” Buffalo coach Don Granato said. “Two of the three goals and the goal that was disallowed were sticks, and they get sticks on pucks. They are very good at that. That was the difference against us, their ability to tip pucks, even pucks that were going wide of the net.”

The Sabres dropped to 37-37-5, and were eliminated from playoff contention.

“We have the same amount of wins, if not more, than certain teams ahead of us. Those teams were able to lock it down a little better defensively and force games into overtime and get that point,” then Sabres’ Alex Tuch said. “Every point matters, and if you wait until too late in the season to make your push, it’s going to catch up with you at the end, and it did this year. It [stinks].”

That may be true, but what’s the point?

The Sabres took a 2-1 lead in the first on a strike by Rasmus Dahlin  midway through the period, scoring off a shot from the right circle.

“I didn’t have a lot of good things [to say] about the first. I thought the last 40 minutes we got back to our game and played much better in all areas and got rewarded for that,” Dallas coach Pete DeBoer said.

Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 22 saves in the loss.