Bishop gets third straight shutout, Stars top Sabres

BUFFALO -- Ben Bishop got his third straight shutout for the Dallas Stars in a 2-0 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Tuesday.

He is the third goalie in Stars/Minnesota North Stars history to do it, after Cesare Maniago (Dec. 10-21, 1967) and Ed Belfour (Nov. 17-24, 2000). Bishop, who made 35 saves, extended his NHL career-high shutout streak to 204:20, which is the second-longest in franchise history (Belfour, 219:26).
WATCH: [All Stars vs. Sabres highlights]
"It's just one of those things," Bishop said. "I'll take it. The wins are what's important. Obviously the shutouts are nice but it's not why we play the game. … The guys are doing a great job in front of me, big blocks at important times, big penalty kills, and then a couple of posts. Things are going my way right now, just try to ride the high as long you can."
Roope Hintz scored two goals for Dallas (36-28-5), which owns the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference and trails the St. Louis Blues by two points for third in the Central Division.

Linus Ullmark made 25 saves for the Sabres (30-30-9), who were shut out for the second straight game and have lost five in a row (0-4-1). Buffalo trails the Columbus Blue Jackets by 12 points for the second wild card from the Eastern Conference.
"If you have zero goals you can always do more," said Buffalo forward Jeff Skinner, who hit the post twice and has gone 12 games without a goal. "We had some good looks. Again, they don't give up much, so when you get looks against a team like that you have to bear down."
Hintz gave the Stars a 1-0 lead with a shot from a sharp angle over Ullmark at 7:29 of the second period.
"[The puck] just came to me and I just tried for the middle and shot high," Hintz said.
The rookie forward made it 2-0 on the power play at 13:12 with a shot from above the left face-off circle through traffic.

"You can see his confidence his growing, he's holding on to the puck, he's skating with it," Dallas forward Blake Comeau said. "When he first came up, you could see he had all the tools, but I think he was looking to pass and now it looks like he's driving the play himself and taking the play into his own hands. So it's really nice to see. … He's been outstanding and we'll need him down the stretch."
The Sabres were without center Jack Eichel, who served the first of a two-game suspension for an illegal check to the head of Colorado Avalanche forward Carl Soderberg during a 3-0 loss on Saturday.
"We could've gotten to the net a little bit more to try for a second or third opportunity," Buffalo coach Phil Housley said. "But we had guys around the net, we never found the rebound. Not to make an excuse, we ran into a goaltender that's been playing terrific hockey right now, so we've got to find a way to make it difficult for the goaltenders."

They said it

"No, not really. I have the same routine that I've been doing for years so I just stick to that. I'm not too worried about getting a shutout, just want to get a win." -- Stars goalie Ben Bishop on whether he's being superstitious during his shutout streak
"With Jack [Eichel] out of the lineup, I think that's a good response game. We didn't have a great start against Colorado or a great 60 [minutes] actually. That's a good response game. We didn't get the result we wanted, but I think that's the response we needed, and I think we need to build off of that." -- Sabres forward Tage Thompson

Need to know

Bishop has won 12 straight games against the Sabres, tying Pekka Rinne (against the Edmonton Oilers) for the longest active winning streak in the NHL against a single opponent. He last lost to Buffalo on March 10, 2012, with the Ottawa Senators. Bishop, who shut out Buffalo 1-0 on Jan. 30 in Dallas, is the first goalie to shut out the Sabres twice in one season since Roberto Luongo (Florida Panthers) and Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh Penguins) in 2014-15.

What's next

Stars: At the Minnesota Wild on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; FS-N, FS-WI, FS-SW, NHL.TV)
Sabres:Host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN, MSG-B, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)