Sabres have lone goal waved off in loss to Stars

DALLAS - The Buffalo Sabres had some great chances late in their game Wednesday night against the Dallas Stars, but couldn't put the puck past Ben Bishop. And the one time they did, it was called back on a goaltender interference call.
That's the way it went for the Sabres in their 1-0 loss to the Stars at American Airlines Center.

Bishop improved his lifetime record against Buffalo to 11-0-1. In stopping all 29 shots he faced on Wednesday, he now has two shutouts against them as well.
Linus Ullmark had to be sharp between the pipes for Buffalo right from the start of the game. The first shot he saw was a breakaway chance by Mattias Janmark 1:20 into the game.

Coach Phil Housley credited Ullmark with keeping the team in the game with some big stops in the first five minutes of action. Ullmark finished the game was 26 saves.
Dallas' only goal came 8:39 into the first when Taylor Fedun picked off a Sabres pass at the Buffalo blue line and passed it up to Jamie Benn. Cutting in on goal, Benn deked and beat Ullmark five-hole.
"We were just on our heels a little early. It's a big, physical team that skates really well," defenseman Nathan Beaulieu said. "I thought they got in our face early a little early and I liked our team's pushback. I thought we dominated the second 40. Unfortunately, we just couldn't get one."
The Sabres thought they had tied the game 4:28 into the third on a slap shot from the point by Marco Scandella.
But in front of the net just before the shot went in, Stars defenseman Jamie Oleksiak, who had been re-acquired from the Penguins in a trade on Monday, bumped Beaulieu into Bishop, causing the officials to wave off the goal because of goaltender interference.
Buffalo challenged the call, but the ruling on the ice held up.
"I just saw a guy going to the net. He's trying to avoid contact. He gets pushed into the goalie at that point. I thought it was a good challenge," Housley said. "It could've gone either way. I knew the call on the ice was no goal, but I thought it was a good time to challenge that. Unfortunately it didn't go our way."

Looking back at the replay, Beaulieu felt that he was pushed, but also could see the call reasonably going the other way.
"It's a tough play," he said. "Just trying to go to the net and things kind of happen quickly. We're not going to argue it. The refs, they have a job to do and they make their calls. Can't overturn it now so just got to live with it."
Some of the Sabres' best opportunities to tie it up came in the final five minutes of play.
"It's unfortunate we weren't able to get that goal there at the end of the game. I thought we had some good chances," captain Jack Eichel said. "That goal interference, it's frustrating, but obviously, I think if it was the opposite, if our goalie got bumped, I think we'd be pretty frustrated with the same situation.
"Ref's got to make a split-second decision and it's unfortunate that was the only chance we were able to get by Bishop. You've got to give him credit. I thought he played well. He made some big saves down the stretch.
The Sabres have now lost their last seven road games against the Stars and haven't won in Dallas since a 5-4 shootout victory on Jan. 15, 2009.
"It was a physical game. It was a tight-checking game. There wasn't a lot of room out there," Housley said. "The chances were very, very low so you had to fight for all your space. The one thing I thought we could've done better, even though we outshot them 14-6 in the third period is just get to the net."
With the loss and a Penguins win over Tampa, the Sabres are three points behind Columbus for the second Wild Card spot. Pittsburgh was able to jump into the second spot in the Metropolitan Division with their 4-2 victory.
"There are no moral victories at this point of the season. It's either you get two points or you don't at this point," Eichel said. "We didn't get two points tonight so it's back to the drawing board. We've got a big game and a long home stretch we need to take advantage of."
Buffalo will be back at it on Friday against the Chicago Blackhawks to open up a seven-game homestand.