Stars score seven, defeat Sabres

BUFFALO --Mattias Janmark had two goals and an assist to help the Dallas Stars to a 7-1 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Saturday.
Esa Lindell (one goal two assists) and John Klingberg (three assists) each had three points for the Stars (27-17-4) and Kari Lehtonen made 26 saves.

Janmark, who set up Remi Elie at 5:03 of the first period for his fifth goal to make it 1-0, scored a power-play goal at 14:09 on a rebound of a Lindell shot and a 2-0 lead.
WATCH: [All Stars vs. Sabres highlights]
"I think lately before the bye week I had a really good stretch since after Christmas," Janmark said. "But I don't see myself as a player that's only evaluated by points; I try to play my game. … I feel good, I like the line I play with, and coach is putting me out there, so hopefully I can keep contributing."

Janmark made it 3-0 at 6:25 of the second period when his shot from the right face-off circle beat Sabres goalie Robin Lehner over his glove for his 12th goal.
"We've started to get the second wave opportunities that (Tyler Seguin's) line sets up," Stars coach Ken Hitchcock said. "They get a strong, hard match every game, especially on the road, so sometimes they're just going to break even and then other people have got to come through and that's what's happening now is that other people are getting an advantage on a match-up and they're coming through for us."
Dallas finished its four-game road trip 3-0-1.
Sam Reinhart scored for the Sabres (11-26-9), who have lost two straight games and seven of their past eight (1-6-1).
"It's a broken record," Sabres forward Kyle Okposo said. "It's frustrating. We've got to find a way to work. It shouldn't be a hard thing to do, to come to work and work. That's it. That's what we needed to do and we just didn't do that tonight."
After Reinhart made it 3-1 with a power-play goal at 8:54 of the second period, Jamie Benn made it 4-1 38 seconds later with his 19th goal. Lehner, who made 15 saves, was replaced by Chad Johnson (10 saves) after the goal.

"It's always nice when they score and you can go out on the next shift and get one back," Benn said. "It's important to turn that momentum around."
Benn assisted on Lindell's fifth goal of the season at 12:08 of the second to make it 5-1. He extended his point streak to seven games (three goals, six assists).
"It's a battle every game and every day in this league now," Benn said. "It seems like we've been playing pretty good hockey as of late and I think we are still only seventh in the conference. Point streaks don't really matter; it's what the team can do."
Radek Faksa made it 6-1 at 17:31 of the second with his 12th goal when he tipped a shot by Stephen Johns past Johnson.
Tyler Pitlick made it 7-1 at 7:24 of the third period.
"There's nothing to say, there's no excuse, and to not be sharp, not be prepared, that's a [heck] of hockey team over there," Sabres defenseman Josh Gorges said. "To even be close to them, you got to be at your best - mentally, physically. When you're not, this is what happens."

Goal of the game

Lindell's goal at 12:08 of the second period.

Save of the game

Lehtonen on Zimgus Girgensons at 14:05 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Janmark's goal at 6:25 of the second period.

They said it

"It's not only impressive what he's doing point-wise on the score sheet, but the kid can play defense too. He's a leader on this team and he's taken big steps this year." -- Stars captain Jamie Benn on defenseman John Klingberg who has points in nine of his past 10 games (two goals, 13 assists)
"We give up third one, and then we deflated, you could sort of see it every puck battle, every competitive situation they won. They had a big push and we didn't respond the right way. That's why it became 7-1, and at that point, it's just missed coverages, it's just a lack of attention to detail what we talked about before in our game plan and they outcompete and the battle that we needed, we didn't rise to the occasion. Give Dallas credit, they came to work and we didn't." -- Sabres coach Phil Housley

Need to know

Radulov extended his point streak to seven games (four goals, eight assists). ... Eichel extended his point streak to five games (three goals, six assists). Ristolainen got his 100th career assist. ... Stars center Martin Hanzal left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury and did not return. Hitchcock said he is day to day with a muscle pull.

What's next

Stars: Host the Florida Panthers on Tuesday (8:30 p.m. ET; FS-SW, FS-F, NHL.TV)
Sabres:At the Calgary Flames on Monday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, MSG-B, NHL.TV)