Stars score 10 in win against Sabres

BUFFALO-- Jamie Benn and Mason Marchment each had a goal and two assists for the Dallas Stars in a 10-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center on Thursday.

It was the first game of a season-long six-game road trip for the Stars, who are in first place in the Central Division, two points ahead of the Minnesota Wild.
"You always want to win the first one," Benn said. "And we've got, obviously, a big road trip here. Some good teams ahead of us. We're going to need guys to step up now that we might have lost one guy. So it's going to be a big trip for us and it's a good start."
Radek Faksa scored twice, Jason Robertson had three assists, and Jake Oettinger made 25 saves for the Stars (35-17-13), who have won five of their past seven games.
"We had all those chances, and we were playing well defensively," Faksa said. "We got really good four lines and that's really important going forward, especially for playoffs."
Dallas forward Tyler Seguin left the game at 10:45 of the first period with a lower-body injury after he got tangled up with Jordan Greenway along the right wall in the defensive zone. Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said he'll be evaluated but that he could "probably" be out "for a few more games on this trip"
"He got stitched up. We'll see how he is tomorrow," he said.

Greenway and Jeff Skinner each had a goal and an assist for the Sabres (32-28-4), who have lost three straight and five of six. Buffalo is six points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"We did not have it and it was pretty evident right from the beginning," Sabres captain Kyle Okposo said. "We just seemed a little bit lifeless, a little tired. It's just tough to play this time of the year when you're not feeling your best, and we just have to find a way to get that energy back and understand the position that we're in.
"I know that we're a young team, but we're in a pretty special position with the group that we have."
Eric Comrie made 39 saves for Buffalo.
"We absolutely hung him out to dry and that can't happen," Okoposo said. "… That's something you learn when you're 8 years old -- you don't hang your goalie out to dry and we did that tonight. Uncharacteristic of our group, but something that's going to be discussed."

Wyatt Johnston gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 7:06 of the first period, tipping in a point shot from
Jani Hakanpaa
.
Joe Pavelski made it 2-0 at 19:07 on a one-timer from the right face-off circle on the power play. Benn pushed it to 3-0 at 19:25, scoring in front after taking a pass from Miro Heiskanen from below the goal line.
Greenway redirected Skinner's shot at the front of the net 10 seconds later to cut it to 3-1 at 19:35 for his first goal in his third game with the Sabres since being traded from the Wild on March 3.
Joel Kiviranta extended the Dallas lead to 4-1 at 8:37 of the second period, taking a backhand pass by Robertson from below the goal line.
Okposo narrowed it to 4-2 at 9:51, sneaking a spin-and-pass feed from JJ Peterka under Oettinger's left pad.
Ryan Suter crashed the net and kicked a rebound to his stick to put the Stars ahead 5-2 at 10:38.
Skinner scored far side from the outer right hash marks to cut it to 5-3 at 3:49 of the third period, but Evgenii Dadonov scored from high in the right circle to make it 6-3 at 9:12.
Faksa extended it to 7-3 from in front at 9:41 and made it 8-3 on a breakaway at 11:38. Roope Hintz scored after a Sabres turnover to make it 9-3 at 12:15.
"We've got a lot of belief, a lot of trust in each other," said Benn, the Dallas captain. "Guys are stepping up their game at the right time, and we're just going to try and continue to keep that going."

Victor Olofsson cut it to 9-4 at 12:31, but Marchment scored at 16:12 for the 10-4 final.
NOTES: The Stars scored 10 goals in a game for the ninth time in their history, and for the first time since Feb. 6, 2009 (10-2 win against the New York Rangers). They have scored more than 10 once in their history (Minnesota North Stars won 15-2 against the Winnipeg Jets, Nov. 11, 1981). … The Stars and Sabres combined for three goals in 28 seconds at the end of the first period, the fastest three goals by two teams since the Toronto Maple Leafs and Arizona Coyotes combined for three in 21 seconds on Dec. 22, 2015. … Hintz has a seven-game point streak (10 points, eight goals, two assists).