Raffl scores twice, Stars send Sabres to sixth straight loss

DALLAS -- Michael Raffl scored twice in the Dallas Stars' 4-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at American Airlines Center on Sunday.

Jake Oettinger made 38 saves for the Stars (29-20-3), who are 11-4-1 in their past 16 games and have won eight of 12 at home.
Raffl had not scored in his previous 16 games.
"Scoring goals always feels nice," Raffl said. "It's even nicer to get the win because these games are never easy to play. I thought we did a good job for two periods, and then kind of slipped in the third when we were on our heels a little bit and they had somewhat of a push. But you've got to find ways to win, and we did."

Tage Thompson and Cody Eakin scored, and Craig Anderson made 27 saves for the Sabres (16-30-8), who have lost their past six games.
"There's been a lot of good the last couple of games," Eakin said. "Obviously, you don't like the result. Maybe not complete 60-minute efforts, but there's been a lot of good."
Raffl gave Dallas a 1-0 lead at 12:35 of the first period on a tip-in of a Radek Faksa shot from above the left circle.
Roope Hintz made it 2-0 at 6:34 of the second period when he shot the puck through the five-hole of Anderson. Stars rookie defenseman Thomas Harley scored his first NHL point with a secondary assist on the goal.
"It's been coming for the past couple of games," Harley said. "You grow up dreaming that it's going to be a little more memorable than just a poke back down the wall. But they don't ask how, they ask how many, so I'm happy."

Thompson cut the lead to 2-1 at 8:23 when he beat Oettinger on the far side with a wrist shot. Thompson has scored six goals in his past five games.
"I know [Oettinger] from playing with him a little bit, he's a good goaltender," Thompson said. "He moves so well. He gets across the net very quick, so it's tough to get him. When you go lateral pass to a shot, he's already over there. You've got to get greasy on him. You've got to get to the net, get a loose rebound, and try to find a way to bang one home there. He's tough to beat clean."
Raffl scored his second goal of the game at 16:16 to make it 3-1 off a second effort on a net-front scramble.
Denis Gurianov made it 4-1 at 8:56 of the third period when he tipped an Esa Lindell point shot for a power-play goal. The goal ended an 0-for-16 drought with the man-advantage for the Stars.
"We've had some really good third periods, and we have third periods like that where we just back off," Dallas coach Rick Bowness said. "Not back off. We get individuals and we stop playing as a team. We make it way too easy for the other team to play. It's something we've talked about and something we'll keep pounding at them."
Eakin pulled Buffalo within 4-2 at 14:02 when he scored on a sharp-angle shot from the bottom of the face-off circle.
Buffalo outshot Dallas 23-5 in the third period.
"Sometimes shots are to create a second shot, which is the better shot," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "When you put the puck on net, it's behind their defenseman, and they have to dig it out to even transition. There's more to it than just a shot, especially if you can get pressure towards the net. Our focus was obviously on getting pucks to the net but creating second chances as a result or stress as a result. I thought we were much better [in the second and third period]."
NOTES: Raffl had his first multigoal game since March 15, 2016, with the Philadelphia Flyers against the Detroit Red Wings. … Buffalo defenseman Mark Pysyk played 16:05 and was minus-1 in his first game in Dallas since leaving as a free agent in 2021.