Owen Power had three assists, and Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist for the Sabres (3-4-1), who have won two in a row. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 30 saves.
Thomas Harley and Tyler Seguin scored for the Stars (5-2-0), who have lost two of three after winning four straight to start the season. Jake Oettinger made 21 saves.
Peyton Krebs gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 12:21 of the second period. Beck Malenstyn’s tip of a Power shot hit the crossbar, and Krebs batted the rebound out of the air past Oettinger.
McLeod received a pass from Jason Zucker on a 2-on-1 and put it stick side on Oettinger to make it 2-0 at 13:44.
Thompson one-timed a pass from Power at the top of the left circle to extend it to 3-0 at 4:17 of the third period.
With Oettinger pulled for the extra attacker, Harley narrowed it to 3-1 at 15:24 when his shot from the blue line deflected off the stick of Sabres forward Jason Zucker past a screened Luukkonen.
Oettinger was again pulled when Seguin, who missed the three previous games with a lower-body injury, picked up a loose rebound at the side of the net at 17:48 to cut it to 3-2.
Tuch scored an empty-net goal at 19:49 for the 4-2 final.
