gamedayguide_instory_012022atBUF

What you need to know about Thursday's game between the Dallas Stars and Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center:

Game 37: Dallas Stars (18-16-2, 38 points) vs. Buffalo Sabres (12-20-7, 31 points)

When: Thursday, Jan. 20 at 6 p.m. CT
Where:KeyBank Center - Buffalo, NY
TV:
Bally Sports Southwest
(Josh Bogorad, Daryl "Razor" Reaugh, Lauren Callender, Brien Rea, Brent Severyn, Michelle McMahon)
Radio:
The Ticket 96.7-FM, 1310-AM
(Josh Bogorad, Daryl "Razor" Reaugh, Owen Newkirk, Bruce LeVine)
Online stream:
Bally Sports
Live stats:
NHL GameCenter
Official watch party:

(555 S. Lamar St., Dallas, TX 75202)

Give my love to Buffalo, Buffalo

• The Stars travel to Buffalo to face the Sabres on Thursday in the first contest of a four-game Eastern Conference road trip. Dallas will visit Detroit on Friday night on the second night of a back-to-back, followed by another back-to-back set against Philadelphia on Monday and New Jersey on Tuesday.
• The two teams didn't play during the 2020-21 season and meet for the first time since Buffalo defeated Dallas, 4-1, on Jan. 16, 2020 at American Airlines Center.
• Captain Jamie Benn logged the lone goal for the Stars while defenseman Miro Heiskanen and forward Tyler Seguin added assists.
• At KeyBank Center, Dallas has earned points in five of their past eight games (4-3-1) and have earned wins in two of their previous three visits.
• Defenseman Ryan Suter has three assists in back-to-back games against Buffalo. At KeyBank Center, Suter is riding a five-game point streak (one goal, seven assists) and has earned points in seven of his nine career games (one goal, nine assists) in Buffalo. He's tied for the team lead with 14 assists in 18 career contests vs. the Sabres.
• Seguin has 13 points (five goals, eight assists) over his past 14 games against the Sabres. He paces all current Stars with 11 goals and 25 points in a team-high 29 career games vs. Buffalo.
• Defenseman John Klingberg has logged eight assists over his past seven games against Buffalo. The blueliner has six assists in six career contests at KeyBank Center.
• Benn has registered four points (three goals, one assist) over his previous five games vs. Buffalo. Benn has earned 17 points (10 goals, seven assists) in 17 career contests against them.
• Forward Joe Pavelski has four points (three goals, one assist) over his past five games at KeyBank Center.
• Goaltender Braden Holtby has a 10-4-2 record against the Sabres in 16 career games, registering a 2.44 goals-against average, .916 save percentage and one shutout.
• Goaltender Anton Khudobin has played eight games vs. Buffalo and has posted a 4-2-2 mark, 2.36 GAA and .921 SV%.

Burn slow, there's no rush

• Pavelski notched a two-point outing (one goal, one assist) on Tuesday night vs. Montreal and has earned points in nine of his past 10 games (seven goals, 10 assists).
• With his two points vs. the Canadiens, Pavelski has eight multi-point games in 2021-22.
• The last time an NHL player had 7+ multi-point games in a single regular season at age 37 or older was in 2017-18 when Daniel Sedin (13), Henrik Sedin (9), Henrik Zetterberg (8) and Patrick Marleau (7) each did so.
• Pavelski leads the Stars in points (38), goals (16), assists (22) and is tied for first with a +10 plus/minus rating.
• The Plover, Wis., native is tied for eighth in the NHL and ranks first on the team with seven power-play goals.
• On Jan. 12 vs. Seattle, Pavelski became the first NHL player to record 5+ points in a regular-season game at age 37 or older since Teemu Selanne (three goals, two assists) on March 28, 2011.
• Furthermore, Pavelski is the first Stars player to record a 5+ point game since forward Seguin registered five points (three goals, two assists) on March 6, 2014 against the Vancouver Canucks.

Letting who wе are be known

• Defenseman Esa Lindell skated in his 400th career NHL game on Tuesday night against the Montreal Canadiens, becoming the 17th defensemen in franchise history to appear in 400 games with the club.
• The 27-year-old blueliner has points in three of his past four games (one goal, two assists).
• He earned points in back-to-back games on the road (one goal, one assist), lighting the lamp in his most recent road outing on Jan. 15 at Tampa Bay.
• The Vantaa, Finland native ranks 13th in the NHL and leads the Stars with 2:58 SH TOI per game, playing 59.5 % of Dallas's shorthanded time. He's led the team in both categories for four consecutive seasons dating back to 2018-19.
• He recorded his first goal of the season on the penalty kill on Dec. 20 vs. Minnesota, the fourth shorthanded goal of his career.
• Lindell leads the Stars with 75 blocked shots and ranks fourth with 66 hits on the season.
This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Kyle Shohara is the Digital Manager for DallasStars.com and writes about the Stars/NHL. Follow him on Twitter @kyleshohara.