That assist was Reinhart's 19th in 43 games this season, already matching his rookie total from all of 2015-16.
"Obviously I think he's taken that next step just with his confidence playing with the puck," Eichel said. "He's been a lot more physical I think, not as much without the puck but with it, just making it harder on the opposing team to take it away from him. He makes a great play on that goal and he's able to just push it over to me for an empty net."
As a team, Eichel felt the Sabres corrected most of the areas that had plagued them in losses at Tampa Bay and Carolina. Buffalo went 2-for-3 on the power play - which coach Dan Bylsma said might have been their best performance of the season - 1-on-1 on the penalty kill and, perhaps most importantly, they were able to protect their lead after scoring first.
The Sabres knew Dallas thrived off speed and a tendency to make long plays up the ice, so they focused on sustaining pressure in the offensive zone to force turnovers when the Stars tried to be aggresive. It worked right away, with a strong forecheck by Ryan O'Reilly and Kyle Okposo leading to a goal for Ennis 19 seconds into the game (more on that below).
Dallas only bested the Sabres once, when a takeaway at the blue line turned into a goal for Faksa with 4:46 remaining in the first period. Patrick Eaves did appear to tie the game in the second period, but his goal was called back after a successful coach's challenge for an off side entry.
Robin Lehner was sharp in his return from a three-game absence due to the flu, stopping 31 shots.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Sabres, but it wasn't quite enough to satisfy Eichel.
"It's a good team win," Eichel said. "We just need to build off of it. It needs to happen again tomorrow night."