Stars 3, Sabres 1
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Center Jason Spezza scored 7:35 into the third period to lead the Dallas Stars to a 3-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night.
Right winger Valeri Nichushkin and center Tyler Seguin also scored for the Stars (15-4-0) and goalie Antti Niemi made 24 saves.
Center Ryan O'Reilly scored for the Sabres (8-9-1) and goalie Linus Ullmark made 26 saves.
It took less than a minute for the Stars to open the scoring on a strong effort from Nichushkin in the Buffalo zone. After skating hard down the left flank, Nichushkin's centering pass found its way to left winger Antoine Roussel in front of the Buffalo net. Roussel found Nichushkin with a return pass as he cut inside, and the right winger had an open net for his backhand attempt 51 seconds in.
Spezza increased Dallas' lead to 2-0 7:35 into the third period. After hed slid by Sabres defenseman Tim Schaller with a terrific move near the blue line, center Mattias Janmark took the puck and connected with defenseman Alex Goligoski. The defenseman then fired and Spezza tipped it to beat Ullmark from the slot.
The Sabres mounted a third-period comeback thanks to two careless penalties from the Stars, only to see the potential game-tying goal disallowed following a replay review.
With Stars captain Jamie Benn in the penalty box for cross-checking, O'Reilly got the Sabres on the board with a power-play goal with 6:57 remaining. The center curled inside the right circle and fired a hard wrist shot to the blocker side to make it 2-1.
Sabres center Sam Reinhart appeared to tie the game 50 seconds later after beating Niemi with a wrist shot from the left circle, but the Stars successfully challenged the goal. Officials ruled that center Tyler Ennis -- who screened Niemi on the disallowed goal -- entered the zone before the puck and was offside.
Seguin scored an empty-net goal with 1:27 remaining to thwart Buffalo's comeback attempt.
NOTES: C Zemgus Girgensons (upper body) and D Carlo Colaiacovo were scratched for the Sabres. Girgensons took a hard open-ice hit from Sharks center Tommy Wingles in San Jose's 2-1 overtime victory over the Sabres on Saturday. ... LW Evander Kane (knee) returned to the ice at Buffalo's morning skate on Tuesday and appears to be ahead of schedule. Kane has been out since suffering a sprained MCL on Oct. 24. ... LW Travis Moen, D Jamie Oleksiak and D Patrik Nemeth were scratched for the Stars. ... This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Stars this season. They play again Saturday in Dallas.